


For Those I Love

by AkeboshiShiba



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 07:27:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 77,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4129665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkeboshiShiba/pseuds/AkeboshiShiba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the ones she loved, she would endure it all. Hatred, anger, loss, sadness, betrayal, and much more. Dark secrets emerge from her families past and she doesn't know what to think of it. Can she handle what she learns? Will those around her understand she doesn't have a choice in the matter?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Eren looked in the direction everyone in the silent meal house did. It had gotten quiet so quickly, you'd think they had seen a ghost. It wasn't a ghost though, but it even had Mikasa a bit surprised. A new student stood beside a slightly uneasy lower unit instructor. Jean had stopped attempting to pick a fight with Eren, and was now staring confused at the woman. She was about Jean's and Marco's age in appearance, but her eyes held that same coldness that everyone who had seen a titan and had seen what they did, held.

She had dark eyes and long hair, something no one was supposed to have. She wore the same outfit as them, but she carried herself as if she knew something they didn't, as if she were better. She crossed her arms over her chest. "So some of them also want to be in my brother's regiment?" she asked and the man nodded. Armin seemed extremely interested in her. "I see… any of them going to truly join, do you think?" she asked and he nodded. He pointed towards Eren, Mikasa, and Armin.

"And who do you believe is going to join the military police?" she asked and before he could speak Jean snorted. "Why are you so interested in who is going where?" he asked and she sighed. "I see. So you are aiming for military police, am I right?" she asked and he nodded. "For what reason? So you can be safe? So you can hide? So you can be protected. The military police are pathetic. Even my older brother thinks so." She said and Jean glared at her. "And what makes you or your brother so special that you can call someone pathetic?" he snapped.

"My name… is Evelyn Rivaille, and my choice of joining the scout regiment is more important to humanity then the military police will ever be." She said and turned to the instructor who jumped lightly."Thank you, that will be all." She said and the shaky lower unit instructor bowed and left. "How will you ever be more important than an entire regiment!?" he snapped and she smirked. "As I said, I am Evelyn. The younger sister of Captain Levi. Or have you not heard of him?" she asked and the silence resumed.

"It doesn't matter who your brother is, if you aren't good you won't make it, and your life is never more important than another's!" Eren snapped and she looked at him oddly. "What do you know of my brother? Nothing, so what worth do your words have?" she snapped and Mikasa stood. "You really shouldn't be like Jean. Getting angry and taking out your emotions on others just because they try to help you isn't doing anyone any good. So maybe if you would try making friends instead of treating everyone badly, you would feel better and have less reason to do so." Mikasa said without even looking up from where she was cleaning up her tray and Eve looked at her in a bit of surprise.

"I would be glad to be your friend… you seem like you need some, so if I could be a starting point it would make me glad as well." Armin said and held a hand out to her. Evelyn stared at the quiet blonde for a minute before her shoulders slumped slightly and she turned on her heel and walked out the door. "Did I say something wrong?" Armin asked with a saddened look. Marco shook his head with a small smile. "No, no… she's most likely putting up a front. I believe in all actuality she's scared." He said and Armin nodded, but he still wanted to go after her.

Jean had stood and followed her out, surprising the rest of the group. Armin, Mikasa, and Eren walked out soon after, deciding to head towards their respective bunks. They all went to their own bunks and went to bed. They woke up the next morning only to be hurried into formation. This was something they were going to get used to for the next three years, whether they liked it or not. Shadish glared at the recruits as they stood in formation.

His eyes landed on Evelyn and he blinked once then sneered at her. "And who the hell are you?! You didn't come here with the rest of the group." He snapped and she only gave him a blank look. "Evelyn Rivaille." She said and a wicked flicker flashed through his eyes. "I figured as much." He said and she blinked in slight surprise. "You're not your brother… so… I'm going to make your life hell until you can prove to me that you are worthy of the Rivaille name." he said and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Ano… sensei… isn't that kind of unprofessional? Treating someone differently just because they are related to someone?" a red haired kid in the back asked and Shadish was about to lecture him on how it was none of his business when Evelyn began laughing. Apparently the fact he had spoken in her defense was hilarious to her. "Thank you, kid. But if he thinks he can break me by being unprofessional… he is wrong. I admire your efforts in standing up for others… but if he is trying to break me down, he will only build me up." She said and flashed him a brilliant smile. The kid was awestruck and she laughed lightly and flashed a smirk at Shadish.

"As they say, what doesn't kill me; can only make me stronger." She said with a challenging glimmer in her eyes. Shadish looked a bit shocked to say in the least, but nodded and folded his arms behind his back and continued his stroll from one side of brigade to the other. "Alright, cadets, starting today you will be going to daily classes, then you will be getting to know each other so we instructors can figure out what squad placement is best for you. Now, don't go being idiots and picking fights like the stupid children you are." He snapped and he took one last look at the brigade before he sighed and waved them off.

"Dismissed, get to the classroom before I decide to take precautionary measures to cut down on the idiots I have to deal with." He said and they saluted him then quickly vanished from sight. Marco made his way into the classroom and he saw her sitting in the second row on the very inside of the row, her feet propped on the back of the chair in front of her. She appeared to be bored out of her mind and class hadn't even started yet.

He walked up to her and she looked at him. "Umm… you wouldn't mind if we sat by you… would you?" he asked, scratching the back of his neck slightly nervously; and she blinked in surprise. "Uh… no… I guess it would be ok…" she said and dropped her legs back under the table. Marco blinked in surprise because she had actually said yes; he had been fully prepared for her to say no. he quickly sat down beside her, before she decided to change her mind.

"So… uh… Evelyn right?" he asked and she nodded, not saying anything else. He frowned and scratched his cheek. "Umm… You're very pretty." He said and Jean choked on his laughter from beside him. "Smooth." He laughed and Evelyn blinked a few times rapidly. "Um… thank you…" she said softly, then leaned back and stretched; swatting Jean in the head as she did so. He glared at her and was about to say something rude to her, but she slapped a hand over his mouth with a glare.

"Shhh… you have nothing relevant to say… chicken." She sighed and leaned back away from where she had been leaning over Marco to slap her hand on Jean's mouth. Marco was fiddling with his hands, not wanting to move or say anything. "At least he had enough balls to tell me what he thought, you take one look at Mikasa and you babble like an idiot." She said as she sat down once more and he glared at her, but decided not to say anything else.

He propped his head on his hand and huffed. She leaned back in her chair and Marco sighed, those two were going to fight a lot, he supposed. He looked from Evelyn to Jean and sighed. Evelyn paid the instructor no mind what so ever, while Jean on the other hand; was halfway listening. Class was over and Jean stood and waited for Marco. Marco watched his friend in curiosity. Jean waited for Evelyn to get ready to leave then he kicked a chair right where she was about to step, only for her jump and slide over the desk behind her.

Marco sighed and shook his head at Jean's childishness. Evelyn just walked out as if nothing had happened. Marco and Jean made their way to the mess hall, where Shadish had instructed them to go 'make friendly' with the other cadets. Shadish sat in the corner with a look of extreme boredom on his face. Evelyn sat on the table with one leg crossed over the other with her palms flat on the table. She looked bored as well.

Sasha walked over to Evelyn and began talking to her, although Evelyn didn't appear to be paying all too much attention at first, which had been disconcerting to the purple haired girl. Evelyn grinned and everything in the room stopped and everything was silent as they listened to her talk animatedly with Sasha. "So the evil one speaks." Jean scoffed and Evelyn flashed a sneer at him. "So the chicken bawks." She snapped and Sasha giggled.

Marco cracked a smile and tried not to laugh at his friend. Evelyn smiled and waved at Marco, who blinked then walked over to talk to her. Jean huffed and noticed that no one else had even remotely wanted to talk to him, except Reiner, who patted him on the back and told him 'better luck next time, tough guy.' Jean scowled at the dark haired girl, she was evil, she was nothing like Mikasa. He didn't care what the others thought of him, he was going to make it into the military police and nothing was going to stop him. Especially not some egotistical GIRL.

Evelyn sighed, everyone was asking her so many useless questions… especially Sasha. Sasha only ever talked about food, but she had to give it to the girl; if there was food involved the girl could move fast. Her eyes flickered over to Reiner, Annie, and Bertolt; who were staring at her like she was something to be studied. "Hey… you three… Tall guy, muscle guy, and blondie; you have some sort of issue with me?" she asked and they acted surprised as if they didn't think they would get caught staring.

"Nah, there's nothing to talk about. Obviously you aren't what we thought you were." Annie sighed and Evelyn stood. "And what exactly was that?" she asked and Annie shook her head. "We thought you had a different personality is all, it is nothing you should worry your pretty little head over." Annie said and Evelyn rolled her eyes and sat back down. Her eyes flickered to Jean, who was staring at her again. "If you have something to say, feel free to speak your mind, chicken." She said and he sneered at her.

Her eyes caught sight of a short blonde and she stood and walked over towards him. "Uh… Armin…" she called and he turned towards her. "Oh… Evelyn… hi…" he said and she held a hand out to him. He looked at her in surprise, but she smiled and he grabbed her outstretched hand. "I accept your request to be my friend. You were first to try to ask, so you will be the first to receive a formal answer." She said and smiled brightly, her smile reaching her eyes.

Mikasa offered a small barely there smile and Evelyn nodded towards her. "I'm not going to encroach on your group, I promise. I just want to let you know, that if any of you ever need help I will be there." Evelyn said and Mikasa held a hand out to her. "I'm not good at making friends." She said quietly and Evelyn smiled. "Neither am I, but I can see that you care deeply for your friends. I wish to have bonds like that one day too." Evelyn said and grasped Mikasa's hand.

"Then we are at an agreement then?" she asked and Evelyn nodded. Shadish watched them in curiosity, he was curious as to what agreement they had exactly… an unspoken agreement was often one that stayed between them. Shadish had decided the ones who would be best compatible as leaders within moments, their personalities all set them apart. Those who would be the strength of the squad were easy to pick out as well, they were the people like Mikasa and Evelyn. Then there were the smarter ones, like Armin and Marco.

"Listen up!" Shadish yelled and everyone turned to look at him in curiosity. "There are four personality types that actually matter in the world of soldiers. One: the Leaders. The ones who have the dominant personality and ability to take control. "Two: The Brain. Obviously it means the smart ones, which over half are not because the majority of you are idiots. These people are the ones who formulate the best plans to attempt to keep as many of you alive as possible. Three: The Support. There are a lot of these in the room now. You are the ones who protect the leader and the Brain. You are the main fighting group. They are the ones who excel in fighting and speed. And… fourth: The guardian. This person is the one in charge of keeping the leader, the brain, and the support safe. This person-" Shadish was saying when Connie began jumping up and down waving his arm in the air like an idiot.

"Yes…" he sighed. "Uh… So… the guardian. There is only one of those?" he asked and Shadish had the urge to pick the kid up by his head again and not let him down this time. "Yes… Anyways, as I was saying. The guardians are the ones who excel in Physical speed, Not just the mechanical speed that comes with the omni-directional gear. This person has extraordinary speed without using the omni directional gear, so in certain occasions, they are extremely fast while using it. Being as to why they are guardians. They are not only fast, but their hand to hand combat skills are usually topping the scales. The only downside is that a lot of the time they are not the most cooperative…" he sighed and the group erupted in chatter once more.

"SILENCE!" he yelled and everything froze once more. "You cannot just choose which one you are, because these personalities develop over time. I already see some of them in a few of you, but as usual the rest of you are hopeless. Anyways… eat dinner and then return to your barracks." He sighed then stood and left as the cook brought in the bread, water, and some sort of odd smelling chili. Marco walked over and plopped down beside Evelyn with a smile.

Jean fell onto the seat beside Marco with a loud huff. Evelyn frowned at him and rolled her eyes. Marco tapped her on the shoulder and she blinked as he whispered something in her ear. A slight dusting of pink dusted her cheeks and she sighed and nodded. "Ok…" she sighed and he smiled at her. "Hey… Jean." She called and the brown haired male eyed her curiously. "Would you… be my friend?" she asked and he snorted, and then he began laughing loudly.

She glared at him and stood. "What is so funny? I'm trying to make peace you chicken!" she snarled and he stood as well. He wasn't much taller than her, just by about four to five inches, but she still had to glare up at him. "I don't make peace with those who think my endeavors are pathetic." he spat and she grabbed him by his shirt and yanked him to her level. "You listen here you stupid prick! You are pathetic! I don't agree with your views, but I'm trying to be your friend." She snapped and he frowned. "Its not just because Marco said it would be a good idea is it?" he asked, genuinely curious and she glared at him then shoved him away from her.

"Listen… I'm not a mean or cruel person, and usually I'm pretty reasonable… but you just set me off. If you would put forth some effort then this could work you pathetic chicken." She snapped. She turned away from him and grabbed her plate, only stopping to place it in front of Sasha, who stared at her with hearts in her eyes. She walked out and Marco stood to follow her. Jean just watched his friend leave as he sat back down with a sigh.

"I guess some of us are lucky she isn't picking on us for wanting to join the military police. We got lucky she just hates Horse face enough to pick on him." Connie laughed and Jean turned to him with a glare. "What did you just call me?!" he snarled and Connie blinked. "I called you a horse… You know… cause you got the long face… and I thought I wasn't very smart." Connie laughed but his laughter ended the moment Jean lunged for him.

:-:-:-:-:

The months passed by and they sat through lecture after lecture, it was getting quite boring and Jean was getting extremely sick of it. They had one day left of lecture and then they would be working with the omni directional gear. He looked over at Evelyn just in time to get humped in the forehead with a crumpled up piece of paper, only to hear Evelyn's giggle. "Sorry, Jean." She giggled and he huffed and looked away from her.

She had become less annoying to him, seeing that she butted heads with Eren just as much as he did. In all reality he hadn't hated the girl when he had first met her, but then she opened her mouth and decided to bad mouth the military police, which had set him off. Marco on the other hand, had pretty much fallen head over heels for her. That was why he had pretty much followed her around like a love sick puppy. He had stopped following her around like that about a week ago when he had seen Marco kiss her.

He hadn't heard the entire conversation, but he figured it had something to do with her liking someone else, it was always something like that lately. The two were still the best of friends, despite the awkwardness that should have lingered. He still wasn't used to her sudden change in demeanor, she had been rude and hateful towards him up until about the time when the whole incident between the two had happened. He wasn't used to her being nice to him… at all.

He could feel her still watching him, and it made him uncomfortable. It wasn't like when he tried to talk to Mikasa, but it was somewhere down the lines of it. with this new change in personality, she reminded him of Marco, if only a little bit. She would smile at him, which always made him cautious. Before he had learned that when she smiled, someone was a target of whatever prank she decided to pull to lift everyone's spirits. He had gotten a basket of horrible smelling socks stuffed into his pillow, the smell of those socks still burned his nose, even if it was just the memory of the smell.

"Hey, chicken. Whatcha thinkin bout? Class is over, we get to go eat now." She laughed and Marco chuckled and shook his head. "Nothing… lets go." He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. Evelyn linked her arm through both his and Marco's arms and he felt his cheeks heat up. He clicked his tongue in a dismissive manner and faced away from them. He cracked one eye open and looked at them as they talked happily about whatever it was they were chattering about.

He had to admit it actually kinda felt good… actually having friends… her eyes flickered to him and he blinked. They weren't just a solid black like he had first thought, they were actually a dark blue… "What are you staring at me for?" she asked with an odd curl of the lip. "Nothing, damn. Your eyes looked messed up is all, che." He clicked his tongue and feigned arrogance as he looked away. "Says the one with eyes that are gold." She scoffed and he smirked. "At least mine don't look like they will steal someone's soul." He spat back and she opened her mouth to retort, but puffed out her cheeks a bit and looked away, signaling that he had won this little spat.

They entered the mess hall, but not linked together as they had been. None of them would have fit through the door if they had gone in there linked up like that. Evelyn appeared to always like having them close to her now. She re linked her arm back up with his and Marco's and they went and claimed their usual table. Armin and Eren looked their way and laughed lightly. "Looks like everyone has their own teams huh?" Eren asked and Mikasa nodded.

Jean huffed and looked away from them. Evelyn sighed and unlinked their arms, obviously he didn't think they were as tight nit a group as she was hoping they would become. She fiddled with her bread for a while before she walked over and handed it to Sasha, as she had done the past three meals. "Oyasumi… Everyone." She said with a soft smile as she had walked out of the meal hall. She walked towards the bunk slowly, not wanting to have to go very fast.

She looked up at the darkening sky and sighed in simplistic joy as she stared at the full moon and the shimmering stars that covered the sky. She walked into the barracks and walked over to her bunk, which luckily enough was right next to the window on the top. The barracks consisted one large room with bunks lined up along the walls, you had very little privacy but that just made it to where they knew that the cadets would not be… doing any inappropriate things with each other.

There were one hundred bunk beds in total, two beds per bunk and each was about a foot and a half away from each other just like any other military training facility. There were separate showers, but conjoined laundry rooms. She sighed with a small knowing smile as Franz and Hanna walked in holding hands. "So when's the wedding?" she joked and Hanna blushed dark red. Everyone knew those two were together, they weren't secretive about it.

"Well, good night." Hanna said as Franz helped her up onto her top bunk while he slid into the bunk right under her. Marco slept in the bunk next to hers on the bottom bunk, while Jean slept above him; right across from her. She had found the only empty bunk and it had been right there beside his, even though they had been fighting every time they crossed paths. She had to admit though, watching him sleep was the most adorable thing she had ever seen.

Her nose scrunched up in her humor as she tried not to giggle. Jean would randomly snort and flop around on his bed and when he did so, it reminded her of a puppy having a really good dream. Over the past few months though, he had been doing that less and less; which despite the embarrassment it would cause him, depressed her a bit. Well… it would have depressed her if he didn't look so peaceful as of late. She sighed once more and snuggled deeper into her blankets as she drifted off to sleep.

She woke the next morning to see Jean sitting on his bunk, a glare fixated on her. She blinked and opened her mouth to speak but he shook his head. "Don't start, I'm not in the mood to deal with anything you have to say." He snapped and she retracted her slightly outstretched hand in a hurt manner. She retracted her hand completely and her lips fell into a frown. "Fine… if that is how you wish to be…" she said and dropped from her bunk.

Her eyes flickered over to Bertholdt's bunk which was underneath hers, where Reiner stood on the opposite side scratching his head at his friend's odd sleeping habits. "Looks like its going to rain today." She whispered as she pulled on her boots only to secure them as tightly as she could without hurting herself. She stared at the short beige jacket on her bed with a look of disdain. "You know… Jean…" she began and the irate teen looked at her with a angered look. "Just because… just because at one time my brother was a criminal… doesn't mean you have to treat me like one as well." She said and everyone that was still in the barracks stared at her in shock.

"Evelyn… no one is treating you like-" Marco began but her dark blue eyes were dull and they flickered boredly to Jean. "Then tell him that, the looks of disdain… the looks of disgust and hatred… I get them from everyone, Shadish knows of my brother's past and he trained my brother well to get him prepared for the survey corps, although more than half of it was natural talent. Yes… I was a thief… Yes… I used my abilities to do wrong upon people. Jean knows this… and I guess I would have thought he would have been an understanding friend and not held the past against me. I don't have a past like Eren or Mikasa, but I was left stranded there in maria… no one cared that I had been abandoned, so how else was I supposed to survive. You would think Jean would realize that I feel bad enough about stealing from those in Wall Maria… I promised my father that I wouldn't steal from anyone using my abilities, but you see… I had to in order to survive." she said and pulled her plain green cape around her shoulders.

Jean just scoffed and looked away. "Once a criminal, always a criminal." He sneered and Evelyn gave him a blank look. "Well I guess the same goes for you as well." She said and he looked at her in surprise. "Once a coward, always a coward... At least a thief wouldn't leave a comrade to die, unlike you… Jean. You would do whatever it takes to ensure your survival… wouldn't you, Jean?" she asked then Jean looked at her with pure angered shock coating his features.

She faded from sight, leaving the rest of them to wonder what exactly they had been fighting over this time. They got a bit of the cutting words, but that wasn't it. They hadn't even said one word to each other this morning before they were catching sparks once more. Those two fought more than Jean and Eren did anymore. "Uh… Jean… what is this fight about?" Marco asked with a small frown crossing his lips. "I hate thieves just as much as titans… neither of them have any right to be in this world." Jean said before he stood and angrily yanked his boot onto his foot.

Marco sighed, as did the rest of the cadets followed them out of the barracks. What they saw there was nothing but more trouble. Evelyn had one fist up near her face, the other lower down about the center of her ribcage. One of the other cadets from the other brigades had apparently set her off. "This should end swiftly." Jean scoffed and Evelyn's eyes flickered over to him. The 110TH brigade cadet took her momentary distraction to attempt a hit on Evelyn when she looked away.

Evelyn hit the ground in a move to avoid the punch and then the kick that followed as well. She continued to dodge the cadet's sloppy punches until Shadish had come across the one sided fight and had grabbed the boy mid punch and lifted him off the ground by his short reddish brown hair. "A cadet from another brigade? Here to attack one of mine…" he muttered then turned to look at his own brigade with sharp eyes. "And none of you thought to help her in the slightest?" he asked and Jean scoffed.

"The thief can handle herself." He sneered and Evelyn stood and dusted herself off. "You screwed up, 110th cadet." Evelyn said and Shadish smirked. "Meet Shadish, the harshest of all the instructors. Have fun…" she said and walked away, her head held high, despite the fact everything seemed to be going bad for her. They all headed for the designated learning area for the operationals of the 3D gear. She sat beside Marco, who sat beside Armin, Mikasa, and Eren.

Reiner, Annie, and Bertholdt sat in front of them. There was an empty seat between Evelyn and Marco, because even though her and Jean were arguing, she was still going to allow him a seat, being as no one else was going to sit there at the moment. They knew who the seat was saved for. Jean walked in and every other seat was filled. He spotted the one seat and he walked over to it and she said nothing, there was only silence as he sat down and they were issued their omni directional gear.

They also had to learn exactly what made what work, how it worked, and if it broke how to fix it. starting with a pile of screw drivers Evelyn began disassembling her gear, cleaning whatever dust was inside the device and she finished putting it back together in record time. She smiled at her accomplishment and looked over towards Armin and Marco, who were conversing joyously as they cleaned their gear and continued to put it back together.

Her eyes then returned to Jean, who was fumbling with one piece. She frowned and her fingres brushed over his as she took the piece from his fingers and set it on the table. She grabbed his hands and placed his fingers on a certain part, acting like a place holder to keep the part from moving. "Now you remove this piece from here…" she said and handed him a screw driver. He removed the part and she nodded and moved his hand to remove another part, and then the whole contraption fell apart and he glared at her.

She giggled lightly and shook her head. "Look… you may not realize this, but that is what it was supposed to do…" she said and he clicked his tongue. Marco leaned over and grinned. "SO are you two making up yet, I know your little spat earlier was not about her past. You can't judge someone for what they have done, but more so for what they are doing now. She is trying to help save us humans, so people like you and me can head towards the career we want to, instead of being forced into another." Marco said and hadn't realized he had said something wrong until Evelyn's fingers trembled.

She dropped the screw driver that was in her grasp and she looked over at Marco. "Forced into a job you don't want…" she whispered and her eyes fell back to her trembling fingers. A small smile broke out over your lips. "Well… sometimes… being forced into a job isn't all that bad… sometimes you grow accustomed to it and it actually becomes your reason for living. Sometimes, you find that you're actually better at the job you were forced into, rather than the one you were wanting." She said with a small smile as her fingers stopped trembling. She fisted them in front of her and nodded in self resolve.

"Thank you… Evelyn…" Jean said and she looked over at him. "For what? I still don't get you… one minute you hate me for every word I say or even think, then the next you're begging like a wimpy puppy for me to forgive you. It makes me wonder how much you actually value my companionship." She sighed and he looked at her in a bit of surprise. "Its because in that way, you two are kind of alike… except when he gets mad he wipes his emotions all over the person he is focused on. You just wipe your happy emotions on us… he would probably even wipe a booger on Connie if he got mad enough." Marco sighed and Evelyn giggled.

Jean stared at his friend in shock. "M-Marco… you traitor!" he ground out and Marco laughed. Evelyn smiled and poked Jean in the cheek causing him to look at her. "What now?" he grumbled. "You're adorable when you're flustered." She laughed and he glared at her. "Oh wow… one of the female population complimented Jean and he is angered by it… not surprising." Eren laughed and Jean glared at him. "You really want to start with me Eren!?" Jean ground out and Eren just grinned. Their instructor cleared his throat and they went silent as he stood.

Everyone finished and the instructor studied their gear. With a nod of approval he dismissed them. Their first three months were focused on learning the insides and outside of their gear like the back of their hands, so if it ever broke or jammed up, they could find the parts to fix it or even learn how to make the broken gear work long enough to get them out of a dangerous situation alive and well.

:-:-:_:-:-:

"Evelyn, you're up." The instructor said and she nodded, pulling her hair into a sloppy ponytail. She walked over to the contraption and secured her belt. She was perfectly balanced, just as Mikasa had been. "This is easy." She gushed and even began moving her arms, but she was still balanced as she did so. They lowered her down and she hopped away from the contraption. Eren huffed and looked away from her but she scowled at him and walked off, they were still butting heads, but everyone else seemed to like her.

He wondered what exactly her special talent was. Sasha's was obviously being able to steal food without being noticed and also being able to eat more than any one of them had ever seen. Armin was a critical thinker and could form plans that would succeed especially fast in his mind and be able to voice them just as fast. Mikasa's skills were pretty much everything you could think of… she had a strong mind, she was strong everywhere it counts when you're going to be fighting with the scouts.

He was curious about her, but he wasn't going to talk to her until her attitude about the lives of others changed. "She's fast." Armin said to him and Eren blinked at his blonde friend. "I know your curious about her…" he said and Eren shrugged. Reiner sighed and moved over next to them. "She's not just fast, I heard she has a special talent that could make it to where she wouldn't have to use as much gas as the rest of us in the 3D training." He said and Eren was caught off guard by this.

"Everyone has to use the fuel though!" he said and Reiner shrugged. "The instructors were saying she had some skill or talent that would make her fuel usage significantly less than ours, she's no doubt going to be in the top ten." He said and Eren shrugged. "I doubt she will go for the military police." He said and sighed as everyone else had finished their tryouts, and those who didn't do so well would try again the next morning, while those who didn't want to stay back and see who made it the second go round, would head over to the mess hall for lunch, then they would be heading out to the woods for endurance training.

When Jean walked into the mess hall, he sighed and rolled his eyes as he saw Evelyn. She was alone in the mess hall, waiting for the others to arrive. But… Evelyn being Evelyn, she wasn't being normal. He was mildly impressed with how she could deftly jump from one rafter to then next like a cat chasing something of interest. "Evelyn…" he called out and she squeaked, falling from the rafters and hitting the table with a thud.

Her glare fixated on him then she stood. "You are such an ass Jean! I could have gotten hurt." She snapped and he laughed, causing a dusting of pink to cover her cheeks. "Well I managed to get to you before you wore yourself out. Its going to be running after lunch, Shadish isn't going to let us off this time." He sighed and she groaned as more people walked into the mess hall as they brought in the soup, bread and water.

They ate amidst the excited chatter. Eren looked a bit dazed and Mikasa was watching him with worried eyes. Evelyn snorted and tried to contain her laughter, but as usual she couldn't and soon enough Jean knew why she was laughing, Eren looked like a zombie. They finished eating, ran their laps, and then they went back to the barracks. Evelyn groaned, her legs hurt by the time she got to the barracks, she had to run an extra two hours because her and Sasha were arguing and Sasha tried to cram a half of a potato in her mouth, lord only knows where the girl had gotten it from and lord only knows what had happened to the potato for Sasha to want to share it with her…

She turned around to see Bertholdt, Reiner, and Annie walking towards the barracks behind her. She glared at the unconscious brunette on her back. "Damn you Sasha…" Evelyn grumbled and dumped the girl off haphazardly onto her bunk. Evelyn walked over to her own bunk and glared up at the bunk. "Now I have to climb…" she grumbled and attempted to climb up onto the bunk, seeing as there was no ladder. She managed to get her top half on the bunk before her legs where flailing about because she couldn't get up there.

"Hey shorty… need some help?" Reiner asked with a chuckle and she huffed, a light blush on her face. "Normally I wouldn't but someone stole my ladder." She whined and Reiner chuckled as she managed to pull herself back up to the bunk, her top half laying across her bed as she tried to pull her legs up. He walked over and grabbed a hold of her as she began sliding back down. "I'll help you." He said and she glared at him. "For a price." He said and she gave him a fiery glare as a wicked smirk crossed his lips and he rubbed his hands together.

"Oh hell no!" she sneered and sent her foot right into his face with an enraged kick as he felt the need to attempt to slap her ass as a fee for helping her onto her bunk. Jean, who she had thought to be asleep, snorted in laughter when Reiner stumbled backwards from the kick to the face. "Damn, Rivaille… that's some kick you got there…" Reiner grumbled with a grin as he held his now bleeding nose. "You're lucky I'm dangling here or else I would kick your ass." She snarled and Eren laughed.

"Here…" a gentle voice came from below her and Bertholdt gently grabbed her legs and helped her climb onto the bunk. "Thank you, Berty!" she said and he blushed and began stammering. "N-no problem." He said shyly while scratching the back of his neck nervously, avoiding all eye contact with her. He crawled into his bunk and muttered a shy goodnight to them all. Jean was watching her intently and she had no clue why.

She crawled over to the end of her bunk, where there was a suspended storage box, just like on the end of all the other bunks. She pulled off her boots and set them in the box along with her straps and the rest of her gear. She turned and crawled back to the opposite end of her bed and flopped face first into her pillow. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to get me to comment on your ass again, Rivaille." Reiner said and she turned her head to look at him.

"If you wish to survive past this night… I wouldn't." she grumbled then shoved her face back into the pillow. Reiner grinned, but his grin faded as he saw the glare he was getting from atop the bunk on the other side of Evelyn's. He raised a brow and Jean shook his head and rolled over to face away from him and Evelyn. The next day it was pouring outside, and… Shadish decided it was the perfect day to go for a run… in the middle of the woods…. in foot and a half deep mud.

Evelyn glared at the mud as she lined up in formation as they were told to. Reiner stood behind her, much to her dismay. She sent him a dirty look and he rolled his eyes. "Look I was just trying to help you." He grumbled and she sent him a vicious glare. "Help me?! you wanted to smack me on the ass!" she snarled and he smirked. "Yeah, I do. But… that's beside the main objective here." He said defensively and she gave him a dirty look.

"Hey… I admit, I have ulterior motives… but I can only apparently have those motives for a while if I'm going to help you. Then it would be as if I have a death wish." He laughed and she smirked. "Apparently you already have one…" she said and he grinned. "Feisty, I like that about you. That and the fact you look after everyone even if it is detrimental to you. True soldier." He said and she blushed lightly. "Stop trying to flirt with me… its going to get you nowhere." She snapped and he laughed and leaned closer to her ear. "But… I think it may just help you out with dumbass." He said and she furrowed her brows then followed his gaze to where Jean was standing up towards the front with Marco.

She deadpanned at Reiner. "Jean is an idiot." She said simply and Reiner laughed. "Yeah well, he is your idiot friend and he doesn't quiet trust you still. So I am making a peace offering, I can help him trust you a bit more and maybe actually get it through his dense horse head that you are ultimately trying to help his sorry ass." Reiner said and Evelyn's eyes widened a bit. "So I see you heard about what Marco and I were talking about… we are just trying to look out for him. It isn't what he thinks it is… living in the interior…" she said and Reiner nodded.

"I know. And… I may not be the nicest looking guy because I mean look at me, I look like the type of guy to rip something in half out of anger." He laughed and she rolled her eyes. "And your point is? You look like a soldier." She said and he was caught off guard. "Soldiers are supposed to look fearsome. Sasha and Connie can't seem to get that through their heads, but they keep the place with a light atmosphere. You, Mikasa, Bertholdt despite his shyness, Annie, and I all know how a soldier is supposed to look." She said and Reiner raised a brow.

"What brought this on? I was going to help you…" he said and she looked at him. "I was just stating a fact. Don't judge me." she grumbled and he rolled his eyes. "Anyways… how could your assistance help get him to realize that we are trying to help him?" she asked and he smirked. "It won't. I can make him jealous. A jealous man is not an understanding one, but… he will pay more attention to you." Reiner said and she blinked at him dully.

"You are really that desperate to touch my ass aren't you?" she asked and he grinned. "Pervert." She sneered and he ruffled her hair as Shadish made his way over to the group on horseback. "Alright! Lets get going!" he yelled and they all shoved forwards as the rain began pelting them harder and harder. Evelyn frowned as she ran, she had to keep up with the group. She forced herself to run faster, but not fast enough to end up hurting herself or making herself tire faster.

Evelyn forced her way up to the front, nearest Marco and Jean, who saw her and nodded at her. She tried to push to catch up to them but her foot slipped. She expected to hit the ground face first, but not one… but two hands grabbed each of her hands. Both Marco and Jean grabbed her hands with both of theirs and pulled her to catch up with them. A smile broke out on her lips as Jean and Marco grinned back at her.

"You won't be left behind."

That was all Jean said and her eyes went wide. She had expected that from Marco… but not Jean. She leaned towards Marco as they ran. "Ano… Marco… did Jean hit his head?" she whispered and Marco laughed, causing Jean to look at them with curious eyes. "Nah… we just had a bit of a talk and he seems to realize that being that way to you is not going to be in his best interest." She laughed and her eyes flickered over to Jean. "And what made you decide to treat me nicely?" she asked and Jean scoffed and looked away from her.

"He still doesn't like me…" she said and Marco frowned. "Why would you say that?" he asked and she pointed. "He won't even talk to me." she said and Marco sighed. "You two are going to have to work some things out. You two are always fighting about the Scouts and Military police. Maybe if you two give it a rest you would become good friends." Marco said and Evelyn nodded. "As long he doesn't openly talk about the Military police, then I won't call him out for it." she said and he held a hand out to him.

"And you aren't going to call me a coward." He said and she smirked. "Alright, I won't call you a coward." She said and he nodded at her and shook her hand. "This is better than the alternative way of trying to get you to be my friend." She sighed in relief. Jean blinked and Marco looked at her confused. "Reiner was going to try and assist you into being my friend. And… my booty was his ulterior motive." She whimpered and her hands went to cover her rump, which she knew was going to Sting if he had actually hit it. Marco blushed lightly and Jean laughed.

"Wow… Reiner wasn't shy about it was he?" Marco asked with that light dusting of pink on his freckled cheeks. "You weren't shy with your attempt either, you caught her off guard." Jean said and Marco coughed and his blush darkened. "You saw that huh?" he asked and he scratched the back of his neck shyly. "Eh… I wouldn't doubt you two would make an awesome pair." Jean said with a shrug and Marco blushed. "If only that could be the truth." Marco sighed and Evelyn felt bad.

"Forgive me, Marco…" she said and he looked at her in shock. "Why should I forgive you? It wasn't your fault… I... I didn't think of anyone but myself when I had done it… I was selfish." He said and she shook her head. "It wasn't selfish. With all this training, we may only live a short life… So trying to find happiness while you can is not a selfish endeavor." She said and smiled at him. "I was the selfish one… denying you that happiness." She said and he stared at her in shock.

Jean said nothing as they trudged forth, he just listened to them converse. "You know… you two can still have a go before we graduate. Maybe you will come to see that Marco is a better man than the one you turned him down for. If you aren't with that guy yet, then he must be more of an ass then I am." Jean said, interrupting the two. Evelyn stared at him with wide eyes. He raised a brow at her and she looked to Marco, who had the smallest amount of concealed hope in his eyes.

"I… I don't know what to say…" she said and Marco grabbed her hand. The look in his eyes as they flickered from her to Jean made her heart ache. 'you will get closer to him as well.' That was what she read in his eyes. She felt awful… he knew that she wanted to be friends with Jean, and he was going to put his own feelings at risk so she could get to know him better. Her eyes stung… she really was a criminal… a thief, still a thief. She guessed Jean was right, once a thief, always a thief… she had stolen things she hadn't known she'd even stolen…

"Marco… I…" she began but Jean nodded at her. He really wanted her to do this for his friend. "That is what dating is for, right? Getting to know the other person… to see if you truly love everything about them." Jean said and Evelyn blinked. She hadn't given Marco the chance before… she looked over to him and smiled. "Let's give it a try I guess. If it doesn't work out then we can still be friends right?" she asked and Marco nodded. "You will still be my best friend, Eve, I promise." He said and she smiled.

"Hey… I thought I was your best friend…" Jean whined and Evelyn giggled. "Well… you can have my spot… for a while anyways. If this doesn't work like we hope, then I will be wanting my spot back. Or else you will regret it." she laughed and he smirked. "I would make you regret it first!" he laughed and took off running ahead of her and Marco. She and Marco exchanged glances before they grinned and took off trying to catch up to the horse that ran off in front of them.

"Hey horse get back here!" she yelled and Shadish gave her a dirty look, but when he realized she was running to catch up to him he sighed and shook his head. She looked back at Marco, grabbed his hand and they both sped to catch up with Jean, who was laughing like a fool form the front, until he tripped and landed face first in the mud. The two friends laughed and halted their progress and grabbed Jean by the backpack and pulled him back to his feet.

When Shadish said they had done enough endurance training for the day the mud had dried all over Jean and Marco and Evelyn grinned. They began picking the mud off of his face that he couldn't wipe off with grins on their faces. "Oh wow! There is a Jean under there! I thought it was just a scary mud monster." Evelyn giggled and Jean glared at her. "Man… I don't even think drowning you in a river would clean all this mud off of you…" Marco said, trying to hide his humored smile.

The endurance training continually went well and every time, Jean learned that mud was not his ally. Shadish had started them on the 3D maneuverability training when the second three months were up. The year had been coordinated into four sectors. Every three months one section of the brigade would swap sectors. They had just happened to have gotten lecture first. Then they had gotten the how-to for the 3D gear and endurance training all in one. This three months was getting them used to using the gear and testing them to see how well they could maneuver with it. The final three months was the final testing and hand to hand combat training.

Evelyn glared at her harness, she hated the stupid thing. It squeezed places that need not be squeezed, and she couldn't figure out how to loosen it up. "You know, Rivaille… I think over the past few months… that ass of yours has gotten even nicer." Reiner said and she whirled on him, a hateful glare in her eyes. "You can't touch it." she snapped and Marco walked around beside her and was currently attempting to loosen the straps on her harness. There was a blush coating her cheeks as he reached for the strap on her waist. "This one was too tight…" Marco said with a blush and she could almost breathe easier once it had been loosened.

"Now uh… how do I loosen this one?" she asked and Marco blushed darkly. "Uh… there is a clasp there and umm…" he began and she smirked. "Aw, my Marco is going all shy on me!" she giggled but glared back to the strap that went across her breasts, squeezing them, but not painfully as of yet. "I'll fix it! I will set you free." Reiner said and a wicked glare met his advances. "No." she sneered and he held up his hands in defeat, but the smirk didn't vanish. "One question though…" Jean said from sitting atop his bunk. She looked over at him in interest. "How the hell did you manage to get that thing to clasped around those things anyways… it looks very… compromising and uncomfortable." He said and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Jean…" she began and his jaw dropped, he had been thinking out loud and had actually said that. "U-uh…" he began and she narrowed her eyes into dangerous slits. "If someone doesn't help me fix this to where I can breathe right… I will end you all." She snarled and Jean hopped off his bunk and walked over to her with a grin. "How can you end us, if you can't really move?" he asked and she smirked and reached for the strap that was causing her discomfort, and she released it.

Jean felt dumb as of that moment, and he made a break for the door, knowing that if he stayed she would pummel him for this thoughts. She rolled her eyes when he made it out of the barracks. She turned to Bertholdt, whom she knew would help her and wouldn't make such a huge deal over it just because there were boobs near the strap. "Um, Bertholdt… would you mind helping me?" she asked and he blinked a few times before red flushed his face and he opened his mouth to speak, but only stammers came out. She sighed and her shoulders slumped. She knew what would happen if she didn't calm him down now… he would cause a puddle in the floor with his abnormal sweat patterns.

"Bertholdt its fine, you don't have to help me." she said with a smile and he fiddled with his fingers. He wasn't that shy when he was with Reiner, but… when it came to girls and other people who tease him, he got all flustered. "Sorry… Eve…" he said and she smiled at her friend. "It's fine, I promise." She said and he nodded. She turned to Marco who had a nervous blush on his face. "It's a shame that your boyfriend doesn't want to mess with your boobs… I know I would." Reiner said and she was tempted to hiss at him in her irritation, but she didn't. "No one asked you… pervert. Marco is a gentleman, unlike you." She grumbled and Reiner laughed.

Annie, who had been sitting on her bunk listening with bored eyes walked over. "If I fix it. I want you to do something for me." she said and Evelyn looked at her oddly. "And what would that be?" she asked and Annie smirked lightly. "I want to see if you can do better than me in the final tests." She said and Evelyn shook her head. "I'm not going to even try all too hard. I will do enough to get by, but I refuse to be in the top ten." Evelyn said and Annie blinked in slight confusion.

"And why would that be?" She asked and Evelyn shrugged. "I don't feel like crushing anyone's dreams. If they want to go somewhere, then so be it." she said and felt a tug on her strap, only to see that Marco had fixed it in one swift pull then turned away with a bright red blush on his face. Evelyn laughed and Marco turned to her in surprise. "Come on Marco, we have to get the rest of our gear gathered." She said and he nodded.

He followed after her not knowing of the look he was getting from Annie. It wasn't a mean look, but it wasn't nice either. Evelyn linked her arm with Marco's and he smiled at her. "Look, now you aren't all shy!" she laughed and he shrugged. Since that day Jean had convinced her to agree to date Marco, they had become nothing but closer. She actually really liked Marco, he was sweet and he cared for her. He hadn't been exactly what she had been looking for, but she made him happy and he made her happy as well.

Jean was already signing his gear out, after today their gear would be completely theirs. Shadish had told them for the past week that they would be learning about it once more, and then it would be theirs. The other instructors had to make sure the gear was put back together correctly first. Evelyn stared at her hands, seeing as they were going to be going to be training in the woods, she was going to need gloves. She wasn't going to be relying on Marco or Jean to lead her to the false titans, she was going to find them all her own, using her own abilities.

Speed was only half of her skill, the ability to maneuver without the gear was the other part. Sure, she was going to need it when fighting real titans because although she was fast, sometimes there were areas where she most likely wouldn't be able to get to a rooftop fast enough to escape a titan without her gear. She frowned at her hands because they were going to end up either scarred or callous after all the training that was to come. She sighed and Marco grabbed her hands and looked over them with confused eyes.

"I don't see anything wrong with your hands…" he said and a slight dusting of pink covered her cheeks as she looked up to meet his eyes. "No… not yet but after tis training there will be." She said with a small smile and he blinked. "OH! So that's why I was told to give you these!" he exclaimed in excitement. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of brown leather gloves. They were extremely expensive and hard to come by.

Her eyes went wide as she pulled them onto her hands. "Where did you get these?" she asked and he shrugged lightly with a smile. "Some lady with glasses and brown hair gave them to me, asking me to give them to you. She left with the scouting legion though." He said and she stared at the gloves in wonder until it clicked in her mind. "Hanji… Zoe!" she squealed and yanked the gloves onto her hands. He stared at her in bewilderment and she grinned. "She works alongside my brother!" Evelyn said and clenched her hands getting used to the feeling of the gloves on her hands.

"That's cool, so what type of person is your brother?' Marco asked as he secured his blade holsters to his legs and connected them to the main part of the 3D gear, which was connected to the back of his hips already. Hanna and Franz walked over and they looked happy, as usual. "So… when is the wedding?" Hanna asked with a laugh, turning Evelyn's favorite joke back on her. Much to Hanna's surprise though, Evelyn smiled and said, "Right after yours."

Hanna blushed dark red, as did Marco. Franz and Evelyn just laughed. "Eve!" a whiny voice called and her eyes flicked to Jean, who appeared to be having trouble attaching his gear. "I'm not helping you." She said and he glared at her. "I offered to help you!" he whined and she laughed. "No, you just asked a question that almost got you hit." She laughed and Jean blinked. "Oh yeah…" he said and Marco laughed. "You have to move the gear up a bit or everything won't connect right, Jean." Marco said and Evelyn smiled at him.

Evelyn turned towards Marco and grinned once he had finished putting his gear on. She jumped onto him and wrapped her legs around his waist, effectively catching him by surprise. "Let's go Marco-kun! Take me away!" she laughed and he blushed as he chuckled as well. "Well he would, but he can't seem to get off the ground right now." Jean laughed and a dark look flashed through Evelyn's eyes. She leaned backwards swiftly and the moment her hands touched the ground she flipped into a running stance and sent Jean flying with a swift kick.

"Damn she's fast!" Reiner coughed and his eyes were wide. "What was that supposed to mean!" she snarled and glared at him, her foot still in the air from where it had connected with his gut, as he stared at her from the ground a few feet away looking like the devil had attempted to slaughter him. "I wasn't calling you fat dammit!" he snapped but she whirled on him yet again and he shrunk away. "Chicken." She said and he glared at her. "You said you wouldn't call me a-" "A coward, and I didn't call you a coward, I called you a chicken." She laughed and walked over to him and offered him a hand. He took it and she grinned. "Don't worry my little chicken, Reiner will get a much worse punishment for his perverted self." She laughed and ruffled his hair.

He blinked then laughed, ignoring the pain in his gut. "You kick hard…" he said and she turned to him and frowned. "Oh… sorry… You saw what Reiner got, so it shouldn't be a surprise that I kick…" she sighed and he laughed. "Well I knew you did, but at least you didn't kick me in the face, how would I be able to pick up hot girls in Sina if my face is all messed up?" he asked and she looked up at him, her eyes softened in slight sadness and she turned to Marco, who grabbed her hand.

His eyes told her everything would be fine and she couldn't help the pained twinge that gripped her heart. She knew things would never be alright… at least not while the titans were rummaging about.

They made their way out to the woods now and each of them had a starting place. She backed up about ten feet and waited for Shadish to give the go ahead. When he did, she sped towards the woods and jumped, her fingers grasping the rough bark of a low lying branch. She swung herself up and onto the branch. She then proceeded to run and jump from branch to branch until she saw one of the titan dolls. She propelled herself from the tree, pulling her blades for the first time and slicing through the back of the doll's neck. It wasn't deep but it was deep enough for a kill shot.

She then connected with another tree, grasping the rough bark tightly then sending out a navigational wire to get her swiftly to the next tree. She continued to carry herself from tree to tree, using the Omni-directional gear, little to none. This was her special skill. In the cities, this skill was known for reaching the tops of buildings with superior speed, which was also what had gotten her survival guaranteed after she had stolen something.

This was her skill…

And one of her biggest regrets all the same…

:-:_:-:

There they stood, or well she sat, on this dusty patch of ground. This was it… the final month, well more so the final week. She watched from the sidelines, as she had from the very start of the hand to hand combat training. She didn't see the point in it if you weren't getting graded for it, well actually that wasn't true. That really wasn't what she saw it as, but she didn't have a sparring partner so what was the use if no one was going to spar with her? She smiled over at Jean and Marco, who were goofing off in their 'combat training' those two were like brothers. Everyone saw it.

She crossed her legs over each other and leaned back against her palms with a sigh. "Really Evelyn? Don't you ever do anything?" Reiner asked and she looked up at him. "I do plenty. But as of right now I have no sparring partner. So don't give me the whole 'you never do anything' speech which will then lead to the 'you aren't a soldier' speech. Because I really don't want to hear it." She said and he smirked and offered her a hand.

She grinned and took it. "Seems you have the balls to fight me then."She sighed and grabbed his hand as he pulled her off the ground. She fell into an offensive stance and he smirked. He tossed the fake knife into the air then caught it with a smug look, but by that time she was already in his face, mid air spinning into a kick. The shock on his face was priceless and he was sent tumbling backwards to the ground.

"Disorient." She said with a smirk and ran at him once more as he stood. "Incapacitate." She said and with one quick punch to the jaw he was left reeling before the second punch to his gut had him gasping for air. She flipped onto his shoulders, locking her ankles around his neck, then with extreme muscle strength, she flipped once more, forcing him over her and onto the ground behind her. She stood straight up and walked over to him. "Disarm." She said and grabbed both of his arms and bent them so he would drop the knife.

"Game, set. Match." She said as she picked the fake knife up and tossed it in the air just like he had, before catching it by the blade with a smirk. She dropped the knife and walked over to him and leaned his head back so she could see his face. There was a mix of pain and amazement on his face. "Holy… mother of Kami…" he managed and she laughed. "M-marry me." he said and she blushed and stepped away from him. "Uh… sorry… I'm with Marco…" she said and made her way over to hide behind Marco and Jean who were still goofing off. "Eve?" Marco asked and she pointed at Reiner.

"I beat his ass and he asked me to marry him…" she whispered and Marco laughed. "Amazed at your skill no doubt." Marco said and she grabbed his arm and hid behind him. "He is such a weirdo." She laughed and he shook his head. "We all are at some point." Jean laughed and she nodded. There was one thing she liked about Jean more, the fact that he wasn't ashamed of the things she said. There were times where Evelyn said vulgar things and Marco didn't really like that she said them…

But she couldn't help but love them both. They were her friends. Her best friends.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own attack on titan.

They all stood in formation as the instructors congratulated them all on their accomplishments. Evelyn noticed how distanced Marco was being today and it upset her a bit. She had also noticed that Jean was a bit closer to her than usual, he was still Jean of course, making crude jokes and being stubborn and arrogant as usual… but he was closer to her than Marco was. It sent a chill down her spine but she chose to ignore it, maybe he hadn't had a very pleasant morning.

She smiled and waved at him but he appeared as to had not even seen her. Jean had a slow smile on his lips as he watched her. She waved at him and he nodded, at least the horse had acknowledged her today. She frowned and waited for their instructors to announce the scores. She knew she wasn't in the top ten, she had tried to avoid getting there purposely, but didn't mean she hadn't tried to get as close as she could without making it into the top ten. She stood there and watched as they finished and had dismissed the group.

She watched as Marco left without even stopping to wait on her, he had just gone ahead. Jean jogged over to her and grinned. "Can you believe it Evelyn?" he asked and she smiled at him, it wasn't a truly happy smile and she hoped he couldn't tell. "You placed sixth, good for you." She said with a widened smile. He frowned at her and looked around for someone. "Why isn't Marco with you?" he asked and she shrugged.

"He hasn't actually wanted to be near me all day… he has just ignored me every time I tried to talk to him. I don't understand it… all I want is for him to be happy. I don't understand why he is acting this way…" she said softly and he shrugged and patted her on the head. "I'm sure everything will be just fine. Marco is a good guy I know you know this, he wouldn't just leave and not say anything." Jean said and she frowned she knew Marco wasn't the type to just run off without a word, but she also knew something was bothering him.

Evelyn and Jean made their way to the main gathering hall, where they were having a celebration for the graduation. They walked in and Jean found Marco instantly. She followed him silently, she wondered if he was going to even speak to her. "Hey Eve!" Marco greeted and a saddened frown crossed her lips. "Why wouldn't you talk to me today? You spent all day ignoring me…" she whispered and he looked at her in surprise. "I'm really sorry Eve… I just had a lot on my mind. Please forgive me, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Forgive me if I have." He said and she tilted her head slightly to see him better.

He looked truly sorry, but in his eyes showed that she was truly what had been bothering him. Her chest hurt, she really liked Marco, he understood her. He was her closest friend and had understood the situation before they had even begun dating. He knew that in the beginning she had gotten with him because Jean had convinced her to, he had in fact told her himself that he was a means for her to become friends with the arrogant Jean.

He had told her that if she really meant what she said to him, and if she really meant her actions towards him, then she would be his form of happiness. And that was what she strove to be. His source of happiness in this cruel world. She adored her freckled boyfriend to where she wouldn't mind living her days out with him, they were as close as two friends could get and they understood each other perfectly, that was… until lately. He had become distant with her and it hurt.

She loved him, yes but it was more of a best friend type of love. She hoped she could grow to love him as much as he obviously loved her, but he was making it difficult on her right now. Her chest hurt and she felt like she wanted to cry. Sometimes, you can't control what the person you care for does or who they hurt…

She finished her meal and her drink, her friends looking up at her when she was done. "Evelyn?" Marco asked and she smiled, the pain was evident in her eyes and she knew he could see it. "I'm sorry…" he said and she smiled. "Marco. It is fine, trust me. Every couple has their rough patches, don't they?" she asked with a smile and couldn't help but notice the barely concealed gawk that Jean was giving her.

She kissed Marco on the forehead and ruffled Jean's hair, much to his annoyance. "Good luck with military police, Jean." She said and he watched her with wide eyes. He furrowed his brows and clicked his tongue at her and turned to face away from her. "See you two later, I'm heading to bed. I'm tired and it has been a long day." She said and Marco smiled and waved her off as she left.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Evelyn sighed and flopped face first on her bed. She was exhausted, but she had this deep gut feeling that something wasn't right and it wasn't just the whole, not right with Marco thing. She didn't know what it was, but it felt awful. She had tried to tell the instructors of her bad feeling, but they had told her it was nothing and that she just needed to get some rest. She tossed and turned all night, but when morning came she got up without issue. She got ready in her white pants, t-shirt, and short brown jacket. She saw Marco watching her with curious eyes and she smiled, telling him she was all right. He nodded to her and left to go catch up with Jean, who had already left for cleaning duty. She sighed and wondered if it was actually him that should be asking the other if they were alright. He seemed distant towards her as of late.

She secured her 3D gear with the brown straps that tightened down all down her legs in criss cross patterns to keep it tight. She pulled on her boots and connected the straps down there tightly. She kicked each boot a few times to make sure they weren't even the slightest bit loose, and she turned a few times to make sure the straps on her thighs didn't come loose either. She connected the 3D gear and rustled it to make sure it didn't do any unnecessary movements.

She brushed her hair up into a high ponytail and shoved her bangs off to the right side. She smiled to her mirror and ran out of her door and to where she and everyone else were supposed to be. She ran right over to Marco, who smiled and waved at her. "Eve-chan is here." He said and she beamed at him. Everyone else stopped working for a moment to wave at her and she waved back. Jean muttered a hello and she giggled at his evasive maneuver. She walked around in front of him and grabbed what he was working with and put it away.

"You can talk to me you know, I don't bite." She said calmly, not even looking at him while she put the cleaning rag back in the bucket. "I think you cleaned it cleaner than it needed to be." She said and he huffed. "Did I say something to make you mad yesterday or something?" she asked with a roll of the eyes. He sighed and shook his head. "I was just thinking… why did you score eleventh? You're brilliant, but you didn't make the top ten." He said and she gave him a sharp look.

"Look… I may not like the fact some of the people in our brigade want to go hide behind the main wall, but… if that is what they want then I will be in the way of their dreams. My brother scored number one when he graduated, and he didn't care whether someone wanted Garrison, Scout, or Military Police, he was just trying to prove to our parents that he could be everything they told him he would never be. He was proving to them that he wasn't a criminal anymore…" she said and her eyes clouded over a bit before she spoke again.

"He… he came home to find me… hidden under the floor boards… our parents having been eaten by a titan. He never got to show them his accomplishments… he never got to prove to him that he wasn't the criminal they had seen him as. He never got to show him that he had changed… and from that moment on when I saw him so devastated, I have wanted to prove to him that I can be just as good as he is, even though he dumped me off at wall Maria." She said quietly and he looked away from her.

"So that's why you were the way you were…" Marco said with a frown as he grabbed her hand lightly and she nodded removing her hand from his politely. "He had abandoned me, saying that it was for the best. He thought it was, but I had to watch it all over again and that strengthened my resolve. I will prove to him that I am strong just like him. No matter what." She said and clenched her fists against her sides. Marco chuckled and she looked at him in surprise. "You are strong, Evelyn, I promise. You can prove to him that you are strong, but you can also prove to him that you aren't the only one who is strong. You can show him that you and all of your friends have strength that he would never have imagined seeing. You just have to work together a little better." Marco said and Jean looked at him in surprise as well.

A slight tinge of pink crossed her cheeks but she grinned and nodded and tossed her arms around both Jean and Marco's shoulders and hugged them to her. "Let's show him then! Let's show him just how strong we are." She said and Jean looked at her in shock, a slight tinge of pink dusting his cheeks, while Marco just smiled at her, this time it actually wasn't him blushing at every surprising thing she did. A chill ran down her spine and she turned around after letting them. She didn't see anything behind her, but she knew Eren had the bad feeling too.

She felt another chill run down her spine as the colossal titan showed itself on the wall. Eren went for a straight forward attack while the others ended up getting knocked off the wall. She was one of those knocked off the wall when the colossal titan destroyed the cannons. While everyone else deployed the navigation devices she turned to connect her feet with the wall. She skidded down the wall, slowing her speed before she crouched as she slid, then propelled herself off the wall and landed securely on the ground.

She stood and looked to where Eren was fighting with the colossal titan. She knew what happened next. She shoved Jean and Marco away from the gates, despite their arguments. She ran at the wall of one house then ran up the wall a few feet then propelled herself to the wall of another house then repeated until she made it to the roof of a house. Jean and Marco used the 3D devices and landed beside her. "Is that your talent? Running up walls like a spider?" Jean snorted and she nodded, but made no move to laugh at his form of humor as the gates of wall rose were kicked open.

The bell to retreat was sounded, but Evelyn did nothing as she watched in fear as the titans poured in. Jean grabbed her by the arm and forced her in front of him as he ran. She snapped out of it and ran as fast as her legs would carry her without leaving Jean and Marco behind. They all made it up the walls and waited for their positions to be announced. She was separated from Marco and Jean, but as long as they weren't that close to the titans, then she would be fine.

They turned to walk to their groups but she called for them. "Jean, Marco… wait." They turned to face her and before they could say anything, she entwined her fingers between theirs. "Be safe, my friends." She said with a smile and once they got over their shock, they nodded. "You be safe too, Eve. I don't think we could go at this without you." Marco said with a bright smile and he pulled her into a tight hug. She pulled back a bit and he pecked her on the lips. "Be safe." He said and she nodded. Jean said nothing, but he stared at her like he had never seen anything like her, he was confused as to why he only now had begun to envy how close they had gotten.

"Be safe, Eve." He said in a low voice as he watched her figure fade, he knew what he was feeling was wrong. "let's go, our groups need us." Marco said and Jean frowned. "Yeah… I know." He said and followed his friend. Evelyn landed on a rooftop next to Eren. They were to protect the vanguard as they attempted to put a temporary seal on the gates, but failed. "Evelyn, are you in our group too?" Armin asked and she shook her head. "I was told protect the vanguard, but no group placement was given… my assigned group never made it to graduation." she added and he hmphed in curiosity.

"Well, we could use your parkour skills anyways." Armin said with a smile and she tried not to crack a smile, and failed. "Parkour… that word… it's been a long time since it has been used. No one really can have the spare time to learn how to jump around like a bug on walls without gear, I guess." She said and her smile faded as she looked at the titans that were coming closer. She turned to see Eren's group running right towards the titans. She grit her teeth but a woman's scream broke her away from them.

She turned towards where she heard the scream and she ran towards the edge of the house she was on but she skid to a stop and pulled her blades. She knew the titan had already seen her so she couldn't just jump over it without losing a limb. It attempted to climb the building so she ran and sent the navigation gear flying. She swung around and sliced right through the back of its neck and released the wires and landed on the rooftop without injury.

She ran as fast as she could towards the woman's scream, but by the time she had gotten there the titan had already gotten her and chomped down on her. She had been close enough to get sprayed with the woman's blood. "Forgive me, I was too slow." She said softly as she sent the navigation wire out and propelled herself forwards, spinning like a top through the back of the titan's neck. She ejected the blades that had broken as the titan fell. "That's two… two down…" she muttered and ran across the rooftops once more, trying to get back to the gates.

She heard another scream, but she knew exactly who this scream belonged to. "Armin!" she screeched and jumped from rooftop to rooftop, trying to get to him before anything happened to him. She got there to see Connie, his group, Jean, Marco, and Annie and her group there on the rooftop as well. She couldn't find Mikasa or Eren. Or Thomas. She couldn't find any of them. She looked to Armin and just as she started over to him, Mikasa ran across the roof and crouched before him.

Evelyn listened as she spoke with the blonde. Her eyes went wide when she heard what had happened to them. She fisted her hands and slammed them down on the rooftop. Marco ran over to her and crouched beside her. "Eve…" "No!" she yelled and shoved his hand off of her shoulder. "What's wrong with her?" Annie asked, she sounded as if she didn't really care, but had asked anyways. "I left them behind. I chose to go after a dead woman instead of helping them…" she sobbed and Mikasa looked at her, no emotion showed on her face, nothing. "We can't sit and cry over them yet. You still have all of your friends, so strengthen up and let's go. We need to get more fuel." She said and Armin nodded.

Evelyn grit her teeth and stood. She turned and faced away from them, securing her blades. "I'll cover you. Let's get going." She said and Jean walked over to her. "Evelyn." He called and before he could say anything else, she dove off the rooftop, sending her navigation wires into the building across from them and continuing to run and jump from building to building. They hurried to catch up with her and get ahead. She jumped off the roof she was on and onto the head of one of the titans. When it reached up to its head for her she sliced off its hand and hopped on its shoulder and shoved her blade deep within the back of its neck and jumped to the other shoulder, the blade still in its neck as she did so.

As they ran past they could all hear her. "Three… three in the name of the 104th." She said as she jumped from its shoulder back onto the roof. Her and Mikasa were killing titans left and right, until Mikasa was no longer in sight. She had run out of fuel and the rest of them were almost out. Evelyn unscrewed her fuel tanks and walked over to Jean and Marco. "Take these." She said and offered them to them. "I need you to make it." she said and shoved one tank into Jean's hand. Marco took one and frowned at her.

Jean didn't know what to do, he didn't know what to say. She just stared at him with that fire in her eyes. He had no intentions to take the tank, but she continued to try and force him to take it. Marco held the tank she had given him in his hands tightly. Evelyn grabbed Jean's hands and placed them on the tank. Marco notice this, but said nothing. He had known the consequences long before he had even asked her out.

"You must live." She said and held her hands on top of his, making sure he held the tank in his grasp. "I can't take this from you." Jean said harshly and her eyes went wide as he ripped the tank from her grasp and tightened it back onto her gear. Marco did the same, but in a less harsh manner. "I understand why they gave you two extra tanks, they expect you to live longer than the rest of us, so you have no choice. You already gave your other tanks away… You have to live." Marco said and she shook her head.

"You have to live, even if we die." Jean said and she bit her lip. "But… I don't think that you will have to worry about that. We are strong, we can deal." Jean said in his normal, cocky overconfident tone. She looked up at him in surprise, then frowned. "You better not die." She said and dove off the roof only to begin yelling and screaming at the top of her lungs the moment she hit the ground. Everyone ran over to the edge to see what had happened, but nothing had, she was just trying to lure the titans away.

Evelyn looked up to see an extremely humanoid looking titan send another titan flying right over her. Armin and the others helped get Mikasa back and she nodded to herself. She ran at the humanoid titan and attempted to cut it down like the rest of the titans, but the moment she had gotten close, it had backhanded her into a rooftop. She screamed the moment she had gotten hit, causing Jean to turn around. She shakily pushed herself off the rooftop and frowned as he appeared to turn around. "I'm fine! Keep going!" she ordered and he frowned, but turned back to leading the group towards their goal.

She stood on shaky legs and ejected her now broken blades. She connected her last pair of new blades and took off running towards a 14 meter titan that had its back turned to her. She jumped and spun like a top, slicing right through the back of its neck. "Four." She counted off and flipped backwards out of the reach of another titan. She turned and ran in a semi circle on the rooftop she was on, only to speed back towards the same titan, but had to force herself to stop as the titan with hair ripped open the neck of the titan in front of her at its weak spot.

His eyes flickered to her and she flashed her blades at him. "I'm not scared of you!" she yelled and he huffed his hot breath right on her. She stood her ground as he cocked his head to the side to look at her. His hand came up and hovered over her. Her eyes flashed and she was about to run when it patted her on the head. And huffed his hot breath at her again. Her anger flared as it strolled away from her and towards the main team's goal, but also the place where the most titans hung around.

She grit her teeth and chased after it, she was not going to be treated like an insignificant puppy by a titan.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Jean crashed through the windows of the building, the rest of the group not too far behind. They crouched as they landed and Jean was the first one back to his feet. He would have run over to the window if it hadn't been for the titans crowding around the windows. Marco looked over to his friend and frowned. The titans attempted to grab at them and they ran from that room. Jean heard another crash, and went to open the door to see if it were Evelyn, but when he cracked the door he saw that the humanoid titan had slung the titan from the window.

He closed the door and walked over to listen to Armin's plan. He looked over a Marco who was listening to Armin intently. They had all agreed on the plan and had gathered the guns that the garrison unit had long since abandoned. They followed the plan through and it had succeeded. He sat by Marco and was filling up their fuel tanks at the moment. "… Jean…" Marco begun and Jean looked at him. "You made the right call." He said and Jean shook his head.

"Some of us died." He said and Marco nodded. "We had some people die, yes. But not all of us died. The majority of us survived because of your order." Marco said and Jean looked at him in surprise. "You aren't strong, Jean. But you are an amazing leader." Marco said as he swapped fuel canisters to fill another one. "But I'm not strong either, I'm just easy to work with you see. I'm not strong and I'm not as smart as Armin, but I make a good teammate because I'm always going to have your back. I'm not as respected as you, and I know this as well." Marco said and screwed the lid on the current canister to grab another.

"You on the other hand, you could be stronger, but you're not. Evelyn could be your strength if you would let her work with you. You need to work on your teamwork." Marco said and looked at Jean, who was still confused. "I… I don't understand." He said and Marco smiled. "Just think, you saw how well Eren, Mikasa, and Armin worked together. They gave Armin confidence, while Armin showed them the path to take, Eren was the leader of their squad, while Mikasa was the back up power. They worked extremely well together. Although… Armin would never had a chance with Mikasa… just like I never did…" Marco sighed the last part softly so Jean couldn't hear and Jean looked at his hands as he thought about it.

Those three had been the best team he had seen out of them all. They worked together in a perfectly synchronized manner, they had impressed him the most out of anyone of their group. He nodded and looked at Marco. "I think I understand now." He said and Marco smiled again. "But… I don't understand why Evelyn is the back up power and not the leader." He said and that took Marco off guard. Marco smiled once more after he stood.

He screwed his fuel canisters back on and motioned for Jean to do the same. "Marco…" he sighed as he did as Marco had wanted him to. "She is ready to die for us. Me and you, she was going to give her life if it meant we lived another day. She pushes us along even if we think we push her along. We are her friends, even if you don't think much of friends." He said and Jean frowned. "Alright everyone, the canisters are all filled, lets obey the retreat and get going." Jean said and everyone nodded and made their way to the rooftop.

Mikasa happened to look back and saw something that made her lose her cool, and when he looked back, he lost his cool as well. She saw Eren… and he saw Evelyn.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Evelyn huffed and hit her knees, her blades holding her steady. She was exhausted, she hadn't slept since the night before last. Her exhaustion was wearing on her now and she didn't know if she could make it. She fell forwards and her face hit the shingles on the roof as the titan smacked at the side of the building once more, it having already knocked her down. She forced herself to stand and she looked up to see Jean trying to make his way to her. Marco kept his distance on the rooftop a ways away.

She ran to the edge of the building and jumped, her hand grabbing his and his 3D gear navigational wires changing position and taking them up the wall. Her feet hit the ground first and he almost lost his footing but she grabbed him and pulled him back up. The rest of the group made their way up and she grabbed Marco's hand and yanked him over to their small group before attempting to hug both of them, but bumped a large bruise and hit her knees.

She clutched her right side and Jean and Marco crouched next to her. She unbuttoned her shirt and lifted it to where the nasty black bruise was visible. "Damn…" she muttered and fell back onto her back. Marco sighed in relief and Jean shook his head. They helped her up and they made their way to the marketplace. They bought her painkillers and a pain relieving salve. "Uh… thank you…" she said with a light blush as they offered the items to her.

She took some of the pain killers and then began rubbing the salve on her side. She reached around and pulled out two wrapped sandwiches and held one out to each of them. The looked at her in shock. "Real vegetables and meat, I promise." She said and giggled as she heard their stomachs growl. "I couldn't take this… it must have been extremely expensive…" Marco said and offered the sandwich back to her. She shook her head and pushed it back towards him.

"The general gave them to me. I always get things like that… everyone thinks they have to look after me because of my brother. I can handle myself, but I'm grateful for the thought. They are trying to help me, but they also are letting me know they know who I am, even if they have never seen me. They are letting me know they have high hopes for me, even if they don't say it." she said and Jean blinked, he understood, yet he didn't understand all at the same time.

His stomach growled loudly and she giggled. She reached forwards and unwrapped his sandwich halfway and pushed it and his hand towards his mouth. "Eat…" she said and he clicked his tongue in feigned arrogance, but took a bite anyways. She looked over to Marco and giggled again, he had wasted no time in eating. She patted the empty spaces beside her and they sat down. She looped her arms with theirs as they ate. "How do you maneuver with the 3D gear with such long hair?" Marco asked and she blinked.

"I refuse to cut it and they aren't going to make me, because then all I would need to look like my brother was an eternal frown and to squint all the time." She said and narrowed her eyes and scowled at nothing, as if she were impersonating her older brother. Marco chuckled while Jean cracked a small smile. Even after everything they had gone through, everything they had seen, she was still upbeat and attempting to keep them both upbeat. He knew deep down she was scared out of her mind, but as the saying said…

Being brave is being the only one to know you're afraid.

He understood that she was putting up yet another front, but this one was to keep them from falling into the desperate fear that makes them give in. "Thank you, Evelyn." He said suddenly and she blinked at him, a slight blush dusting her cheeks. "It was nothing, there's no need to thank me for that… I will always look out for you two and give you food if you're hungry." She said softly, her blush darkening a bit in her embarrassment.

"Thank you for that, as well. But… that's not what I'm thanking you for, Evelyn." He said and she looked at him with wide eyes. "Jean… what are you…" Marco began but Jean smiled and looked at Evelyn. "Thank you for being brave for all of us, for keeping us as we are and not letting the fear consume us, even though deep down you're just as scared as we are…" he said and she looked down at her hands. They were shaking and her lip was trembling. "I couldn't let you be scared too… if you two were scared… I would have been scared too." She said and he nodded.

"Um… Evelyn… can I speak to you?" Marco asked and she nodded. "Uh.. I'm not quite sure how to say this… but… I think we need to stay friends. I see how you look at Jean and I think its for the best if we don't do this anymore because its only going to hurt one or both of us in the end…" he said, his words forced and her heart sank. "I see…" she whispered but he grabbed her hand. "I'm always here for you… I promise. I'm never going anywhere. Not as long as you need me." he said and she nodded a smile crossing her lips. "I will always need you…" she said and he shook his head.

"Someday there will be someone you need more than mr. brains who was always too nervous, for you." He said and she frowned. She placed her hands on his cheeks and her forehead met his. "I will always need you. You understood me better than anyone. I will never leave you behind and I will never give up on you." She said and he smiled. "I know…"

"Calling all soldiers, recruits, scouts, and garrison units. Fall into brigade." Someone said over the loud speakers. Marco made his way over to the forming formation as Jean stood and Evelyn followed behind them. They all fell into brigade next to one another and fell into attention their arms in the soldier's salute. They listened as the general explained what is going on and explained the deal with Eren as well. When they were allowed to fall from the soldiers salute, the majority of the people were trying to start a riot so they could escape.

Evelyn's hands trembled at her sides, but her eyes went wide as Marco and Jean grabbed each of her hands and squeezed them lightly. Her lip trembled and she looked from one to the other. She squeezed their hands back tightly and looked up to where general Pixis stood calmly, awaiting the group to stop chattering. He had announced that the treason was temporarily suspended and explained that if they wanted their families to have to see what is truly happening, then they could leave now and nothing would happen to them.

She glanced from Marco to Jean and they both nodded at her. They were going to fight, so… she was going to fight as well. She grit her teeth and she knew they heard it. "Just… just be careful." She said and they both nodded. "We will." Jean said, in his usual cocky tone. "We promise." Marco said as she let their hands go and they walked to where their groups had been assembling once more. The general himself called her up so she had no choice but to obey.

She ran towards the wall and jumped, sending her navigational wires up and helping her climb the wall with ease. She landed, crouched before general Pixis and Eren. "Yes?" she asked and he nodded at her. "You have grown a lot since I had last seen you. I'm very proud of you." He said and she nodded. "You're not going to keep me here, you know this right…" she said and Eren looked at her oddly. "Why wouldn't I be able to keep you here?" Pixis asked and she pointed over the wall and down to where Jean and Marco were. "My friends will not die…" she whispered and he nodded. "I wish we could make that the truth, but I need you to go with the group protecting Eren." He said and she nodded.

"I see you're not obeying brother's orders…" she said as she turned to the rest of the group that was gathering around Eren. "And why would I follow his orders? If a soldier can fight, they will fight, whether I tell them no or not. And you are no exception, missy. Levi will be most unhappy with me, but I would much rather deal with him than a crying girl. Because I know if anything happened to them, I would be dealing with you and your crying fits." He said and she furrowed her brow at him.

"You just know that even if you told me no, I would still go down there." she said and he nodded. "You always were stubborn. You and your brother are both stubborn, you just vocalize your objectives more." He said and she nodded and followed the group that she had been assigned. She clenched her fist and took one last look towards where her best friends were heading out to risk their lives, yet again.


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own attack on titan! 

Evelyn watched in shock as Eren transformed into the titan. Despite her fear of the titans, she found this amazing beyond words. Then… her brow twitched and her lips curled up in a snarl. "How dare he!" she snapped and her group looked at her oddly. "What is the matter with you?" the silver haired woman asked with a snippy undertone. "Before anyone knew he was the titan, he patted me on the head like I was a useless puppy. I'm older than him how dare he demean me like that." She roared and Eren turned to face them, his eyes held a different light this time. They didn't have the humanoid light like they had before.

She took a few steps back and turned to run as he swung at Mikasa, who showed no fear as she jumped onto his face to try and get his attention. Eren didn't seem to recognize her. He only succeeded in punching himself in the face hard enough to completely incapacitate him. She sighed and hopped from rooftop to rooftop to attempt to keep Eren safe while he recuperated. She heard a yell and looked up to the roof where Connie was. All she heard was something about Jean and her mind was made up. She started off in the direction they were pointing and someone grabbed her arm.

She whirled on them and her glare rivalled theirs. "You can't go, you have priorities here." The blonde said and she cocked her head back and glared at him fiercely. "You can't stop me, even if you tried." She snapped and yanked her arm from his grasp and she was gone by use of navigation wires before he could even try to grab her once more. She hit a rooftop and saw someone on the ground running away from a titan. "Jean…" she managed. She was about to attack the titan when Marco swung around and told Jean to hurry and get the gear.

He nodded to her and she ran at the edge of the rooftop as he led the titan away. She hit the ground beside him and helped him pull the gear off the deceased soldier. "Forgive me…" she said and brushed the deceased person's hair like she would to a friends'. She grabbed the straps that Jean was fumbling with and she helped him secure them. She turned away and he grabbed her arm. "Be careful and help Eren seal this wall." He said and she nodded. She grabbed his hands and placed them on the maneuvering device's handles. "You have to go, now." She said and turned him forcibly towards the wall. "Tell Marco thank you when you see him, you will see him first after all." She said with a smile and he nodded.

"Now go." She said as another titan made its appearance. She turned to look and make sure Jean was leaving and she pulled her blades and propelled herself up at the titan. He swatted at her, but when his arm got close to her she flipped up and onto his arm. She ran up its arm and shot the multi directional wires out to get her some air time so she could hit the weak spot. Her blade sliced through the nape of its neck and she landed on the building behind her. She heard a yell of pain, but didn't see who made it and couldn't pinpoint the area it had come from either.

She frowned and ran back to where Eren and the others were. She landed on the rooftop in time to see the green flare shoot up and Eren slam the boulder down. She grinned and nodded as the blonde team leader motioned a thumbs up at her. She made her way over to her team leader and he nodded at her. "I told you not to go, but you did anyways." He said it wasn't really asking but she figured he deserved an answer. "I promised Jean and Marco I would have their backs no matter what. They are my friends. I'm not my brother, I won't leave someone behind." Evelyn said and the man looked surprised, but said no more, other than for her to head back to the wall for further instruction.

Protect him until the end! Protect Eren even if it costs your life!" that was the last think she had heard before she received a backhand from a titan, which sent her flying into a wall. Her vision blurred as blood trailed down in between her eyes from the impact to her head. The titan showed no interest in her after she had slumped over. She blinked a few times, her vision darkened with each blink. She huffed and her entire body hurt. "G-gomen… Jean… I couldn't help you change…" she managed to say and then her line of sight drifted to Marco, who followed Jean to help protect Eren. "Forgive me… Marco, I leave him to you…" she whispered as her face hit the ground the last image in her mind was that of her legs.

Her eyes fluttered open what felt like hours later, to the feeling of something touching her. She inhaled deeply and the person jumped back. "What the hell! She's alive!" he yelled and she heard what appeared to footsteps running towards her. Her vision faded into clarity and she looked around. She attempted to stand but fell back down. "What is your name?" the man asked and she flashed a glare in his direction. "Don't you dare touch me." she snapped and he went silent. The dark look in her eyes and the menacing scowl were enough for him to identify her easily.

"My… My God… Evelyn Rivaille!" he exclaimed and she shoved herself off the ground shoving his hands away as he tried to help her. "Where is my squad?" she asked as she checked to make sure her omni-directional gear was not broken. She tightened the straps on her gear and dusted herself off. "Here, let me wipe your face, you have blood there." he began but she slapped his hand away and glared at him once more. "I don't need any help… I'm going to find my squad." She said and slid her blades back into their holsters with barely stable hands. She began weakly walking down one alleyway and he reached for her but the woman who had run over to him shook her head at him.

"If she is like Heichou-sama, I would leave her be. She may be weak at the moment, but she doesn't see it as that… she sees it as a temporary hindrance that will fade, so she will keep going even if she falls down again. With Heichou and her, there is no stopping them even if they were nearly dead." The woman said and he looked at her in surprise, but then turned back to face Evelyn's retreating back. She stopped at the end of the alley and turned back to them. "How long have I been out?" she asked and he seemed surprised. "Two and a half days." He said and he saw her look down at her feet before she quickened her pace. Evelyn skid around a corner and ran the direction facing the wall. She ran past the bodies strewn about, but one in particular caught her eye.

She slowed down and took a few steps backwards. She slowly turned to face the deceased person and her eyes widened considerably. Her movements were forced, half minded, and extremely sloppy. Her steps were similar to that of a chicken with bow legs; slow and possibly self-detrimental. She almost fell with every step she took. The tears fell faster than her words could. She hit her knees right in front of him and despite the thick smell of decay, she placed her hand on his cheek.

She saw the disgust in the eyes of those who saw her, but… this was her friend… her best friend… her ex boyfriend... She ran her fingers through his hair one last time and then her hands dropped to hit her legs. The tears fell faster now that she knew it was truly him. Her hands found their way to her own hair and she gripped it tightly. "M-Marco…" she sobbed. "Marco… I'm… I'm so sorry!" she sobbed as she pulled her hair. She tossed her head back and screamed at the top of her lungs. It was a high pitched, shrill scream that had some of the elite members either covering their ears or holding their hands to their chests.

She yanked on her hair once more and sobbed Marco's name once more before she screamed another, high pitched pain filled scream. The silver haired woman from before walked swiftly over to her and backhanded her, surprising the majority of those there. "We don't have time to mourn them!" she snapped and Evelyn's tears stopped. She grit her teeth and stood, not yet facing the woman. "How dare you…" she growled and the woman started towards her again.

Evelyn caught the woman's hand before it could connect with her cheek once more. The woman looked at her in surprise. "You need to learn your place recruit." She said and Evelyn was tempted to hit the woman in revenge for her words, but Evelyn knew if she got the first hit in, it wouldn't be the last. "Don't you ever touch me, and don't you ever refer to me as a recruit, or anything of such a low stature. You see the aftermath of the titans, but you never see what happens first hand. So don't you ever tell me, or anyone else that we don't have time to mourn them!" Evelyn sneered, her tears falling once more.

"Return to your barracks until you are told otherwise." The leader of the recovery unit said as he pushed the silver haired woman to get back to work. Evelyn wiped her eyes but turned on her heels and left. Evelyn made her way back to the barracks, and when she got there, she saw no one. There were none of the other graduates anywhere to be found. She flopped face first into her bed and a shock went through her mind as she lay there.

"Why? Why do I always have to lose everyone I care for? Why am I never strong enough to save them?" she sobbed and flickers of the titans flashed before her eyes. Her memories resurfaced and she wanted nothing more than to cry. There she was, in that old cabin… her mother stood in the front yard picking apples from the tree in the front yard from over the tiny white picket fence, a loving and serene smile on her face. She smiled and waved back at her mother from the window as her father was scaling and gutting the batch of fish he had brought in. He was smiling as he did so, everything had been so peaceful.

"Ano… father, when is Levi coming home?" she asked and her father scratched his chin for a bit then poked out his lower lip in thought. She giggled and watched her father as he pulled his silly display. "In about a week, Levi should be coming home." He said and she jumped up and down in excitement. "Yes! Now I can show him what I learned!" she laughed and her father smiled. "You know, Eve, that sort of talent is really good for tree climbing and stealing, so which are you going to do?" her father asked with a playful look of accusation on his face.

"Tree climbing duh! There is nothing good enough for me to steal! I already have everything I need." Evelyn said and her father chuckled. Evelyn turned to look out the window once more but her fingers covered her mouth in a silent scream. Blood splattered the window she had been looking out of and her father dropped what he was doing. "Eve, come here." He whispered and she managed to tear herself away from the window to look at him. He opened up the food storage shelter and he shoved her down into the cellar.

"Listen to me Eve. Be silent, not a noise or you won't make it. No matter what you hear. You got that?" he asked and she stared up through the cracks of the cellar trap door with fear filled eyes. "F-father… don't go…" she sobbed, but bit down on her hand to keep herself from making any noise. "Be strong, Evelyn. I promise, Levi will find you and take you somewhere safe." Her father said and she heard the front door open and close, and his footsteps vanish.

She heard the heavy footsteps of the titan, and then she heard the screams. The titan had caught her father. The whinnying of the horse that her father had taken off on and then its shrill squeal as it had gotten injured. Then she heard her father release one last scream and then she heard a crunch and the sound of liquids hitting the ground. She bit down on her hand so hard it began to bleed, she was trying her hardest not to cry out, not to scream at the top of her lungs.

All sound faded away and she had released her bite on her hand after a few hours. Her hands hit the ground by her sides and she had cried as much as she could cry. It felt like forever when she was under there. Her stomach growled and she hadn't realized exactly how hungry and deprived she had made herself. It hurt she was so hungry. "How long…" she attempted to say, but all that came out were dry rasps which made her through dryer by the second. She reached over and grabbed the bottle of water that lay a few feet away, along with the bag of bread rolls that her father had tossed down there with her in his hurry. They were rock solid.

She took a drink of the water then reached for the beef jerky her father had made a vast amount of and stored. She began eating to satiate her stomach, when she heard horses. She didn't move, not because she was scared; but more so because she didn't have enough stamina to care that they were there. The cellar door was ripped open and she covered her face to shield herself from the light. She briefly recalled someone hugging her tightly.

When her eyes adjusted to the light, her tears began to fall. "Evelyn…" his voice called out to her as he hugged her tightly. "Evelyn oh my god, Evelyn." His voice began to change and she blinked a few times, an instructor's image coming into view. "Evelyn…" He called out and Evelyn wiped her eyes. "Thank god… I thought you had gone catatonic…" he sighed in relief and she sat up. "Yes… Shadish?" she asked, her pain coming back at her.

"Its time for the communal funeral pyre. I thought you would like to know…" he said and she nodded, this was the most kindness she had ver heard of him showing, but she doubted it would last long. "Thank you…" she said and stood. She forced her way out to the open area they were using for the funeral pyre. Her soft footsteps didn't go unnoticed as she made her way over to them. Connie had been the first to see her. "E-Evelyn!" he exclaimed and they all turned to look at her, including Jean. "We thought you were dead!" Connie said with a sigh of relief. Jean avoided her eyes completely.

She completely ignored him and she hit her knees in front of the fire. Her tears streamed down her cheeks and she grit her teeth loudly. She reached into the fire and pulled her hand back not long after, ignoring the pain from the heat. "I'm so sorry Marco… I promised I would keep you safe… but I failed and ended up stranded down there… But… At least I was your happiness, even if for a little while." she whispered and everyone's eyes went wide and Jean fisted his hands at his sides. "Are you still going to join the Military Police… Jean?" she asked and he blinked in surprise.

"Are you going to go hide behind those walls like you complained so dearly of the other day when we had to fight the titans? Are you still going to shove me away when I ask? Are you going to ignore me and go anyways? Are you going to continue to… to…" she began but her sobs stopped her angered rant. "I lost my friend because he was trying to convince you that you could be something more than a coward that hides behind Wall Sina…" she sobbed and he grit his teeth.

"Dammit Eve! I know!" he snapped and she looked at him. "I've made a new choice! I'm not going to become a pile of bones in a funeral pyre that no one can distinguish who's who in!" he snapped and she bit her lip. "I know damn well that you don't want to end up like this either!" he snapped and held out his hands to her. In one hand was a bone fragment, enforcing his point upon her. The other was there to help her up if she so desired to take it. She bit her lip as new tears fell, but she reached up and the moment her fingers brushed over his, his hand tightened down on hers and pulled her from the ground.

"Lead me to the end… Jean taicho…" she whispered and his eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. "Wherever you go I will follow. I will not lose any more friends." She said and he blinked and looked down. "I've heard that somewhere before… just… worded a bit differently." He said and she looked up at him. He was still four inches taller than her, so she still had to look up, just to make sure she was looking into his eyes, to make sure they were strong.

"We have to go to the meeting…" Jean said as the bell rang. They were going to head over towards the stage to see who was going with the scout regiment. She looked back at the fire and she could have sworn she had seen Marco standing there, a prideful look on his face. He smiled at her as if she had accomplished something. It took everything for her not to burst out crying again. "Eve…" Jean said as they were walking away.

She looked over at him and he didn't meet her eyes. "I knew you weren't dead… I heard you scream… I heard you crying… forgive me… for being too weak to step in help you. For being so weak I couldn't comfort you while you mourned him…" He said and she frowned at him. "Jean, its fine… he is here now…" she said and fisted her right hand over her heart in the soldier's salute. "He is right here, giving me the motivation to keep going. Just like he is here, as well." She said and stopped walking, just to place her flat palm over his heart. "He is there for you too… even if we can't see him… and we miss him dearly… he is right here… always…" she said in her saddened crackly voice and rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands to cut off the tears that had begun to fall once more.

Jean closed his eyes and nodded. "Let's go, Eve." He said and they fell into formation with everyone else. He stood at attention, she was right beside him, having to shove two people down the row who had attempted to take her place. "Eve…" he said and she looked at him, her face sad and he blinked in surprise. "You lead, I'll follow." She said and he grit his teeth and looked straight forwards. "Now… despite what you have heard, who is going to stay and fight with the scouts?" Erwin asked and people began walking away. Evelyn could tell it was taking Jean everything in his power not to turn and walk away.

She reached over and grabbed his hand tightly. "I will be your strength, Jean." She said and she smiled at him brightly. He looked completely shocked, like he had seen a titan chewing on his leg; but then he tightened his grip on her hand and nodded. As the last few walked away, they looked around to see shaky figures, familiar faces, and tear filled eyes. "I understand that most of you don't want to be here, I just want to say… how proud I am of all of you. You all have my utmost respect." Erwin said with an immense amount of pride. She released Jean's hand and began bouncing on her toes lightly, trying to see if that familiar face was there.

"I just want to tell you, that I am incredibly proud of all of you, and that is my personal feelings towards you. I hold such pride for the small amount of you… that… " Erwin turned to look at someone behind him, then back at her. There was a small look of curiosity as he looked from her to the person behind him. She waited for him to finish speaking then she walked forwards, despite the surprised looks of those around her. "Evelyn, no one said fall out of formation…" Connie whispered to her as she strolled towards him.

"Heichou…" Petra called as he stood as well. "I told you not to do this." Levi said and Evelyn stood her ground. "I told you I was going to prove I was just as strong as you, and that you couldn't just ditch me." she said and he stepped off the stage. "Cadets, go to your barracks, gather your things and clean them up to prepare for the next group of cadets." Erwin said and they fell into the salute then followed his command.

Erwin turned to watch the siblings. Evelyn raised her fists and Levi scoffed at her. "Are you trying to prove something?" he asked and she glared at him, but her glare didn't last long as she blinked and walked closer to him. Her lips twitched up, despite her hardest efforts of trying to keep a serious face. "I'm taller than you." Was all she said and he scoffed at her once more. "Are you just here because you are serious, or are you here because you think this is a joke?" he asked and her fingers twitched.

"As I thought, go home this isn't a game, Evelyn, this is serious and if you aren't going to take it that way, people like you are the reason the better soldiers die. You would be the reason your squad would end up dead, because all you want to do is joke around." He said and she bit her lip. He clicked his tongue at her in disgust and before he could say anything else, she sent him sprawling to the ground with a punch to the face.

She made her way over to him and grabbed him by his cape. The anger in her eyes was followed by tears. "How dare you! I don't think this is a joke! Three times! Three times I have seen what the titans did to them!" she snapped and her tears fell faster. "Our parents… then everyone behind wall Maria… and this time…" she sobbed and she shoved him away and clenched her hands to her chest as she squeezed her eyes shut in her desperate pain. "M… Marco… Bott… my best friend… the only one who understood me… m-my… my ex boyfriend…" she sobbed and Erwin frowned and looked away, he understood her pain completely.

"And you're right…" she sobbed and Levi looked up at her in surprise. "I am the reason that my team is dead, because I turned away from them… just for a moment." She said and he frowned. "Mina… Thomas…. Franz…. Tom… all of them… in the 104th that perished… I wasn't there… I couldn't help them…" she sobbed and Levi placed his hand over her mouth to stop her from talking. "Shut up…" he said and she looked at him in surprise.

"Don't cry… it makes a mess everywhere…" he said and she glared at him. "And… I'm sorry… I shouldn't have judged you so swiftly, you are my sister after all…" he sighed and she blinked. "I should have realized you would take after me more than I had thought…" he added and she offered a small smile. She opened her mouth to speak but someone called out to her. "Eve…" she turned to see Jean. "Jean… is everything alright?" she asked and he nodded. Jean looked from her to Levi and he blinked. "Nani? Marco would be surprised as to exactly how alike you two… look…" he began but his eyes became downcast and so did hers. She fisted her hands and tapped him on the forehead.

"Remember… always here…" she said and her fist found its way to her heart once more. He nodded. "All of them… always right here." He said and pulled a large bag off his shoulder and handed it to her. "You packed my things?" she asked and he nodded. "I figured you would be out here having a perfect family reunion… so I grabbed your stuff." He said offhandedly, as if it were nothing. "That's not how this works you know…" she sighed as she turned to face away from him.

He looked over at her in surprise. "You lead. I follow. That is what I said." She said and Levi furrowed his brows and gave Jean an odd look. Jean was taken off guard by the look that Levi was giving him. "What?" he snapped and Levi leered at him. "Shut up." He said and Evelyn cocked her head to the side in curiosity. "Here, let me take those off of your hands." Erwin said and reached for Evelyn's bag. "C-commander!" Petra choked and he sent the woman a look.

"I couldn't, it would be disrespectful of a cadet to even think of allowing the commander of the entire regiment carry her things. Forgive me, but you must get what I'm saying." She said and Erwin blinked but nodded. "I understand, but I insist." He said and Levi swiped her bag from her shoulder. "There, now you don't have to worry about it." Levi grumbled as he walked away. "Ano… aniki…." Evelyn called after Levi as he strolled away to put her things with the rest of the baggage.

She looked at the confused Jean, then her eyes turned to the baffled commander, then she looked over at Levi's team, who looked as if they were scared and confused all at the same time. Evelyn blinked and growled as she ruffled her hair in irritation. "Bah! I don't understand you people!" she squealed and Jean nodded. "Let's go before things get weirder…." Jean said but Levi grabbed her wrist and dragged her away, mumbling something about 'don't touch my sister with your filthy hands'. Jean scratched his head in confusion. "What the hell am I getting myself into?" he grumbled as he shoved a hand into his pocket and walked away, a hand still running through his hair in his confusion.

:-:-:-:-:

It hadn't taken long for them to reach the castle, but the awkwardness of the journey had made it feel like forever. Sasha had been pestering Evelyn with questions about where she had been for the past few days and how she had survived without food, she thought food was very important apparently, more important than the fact that titans had been all around Evelyn when she was down there. "Uh… I don't know… I don't remember anything about what happened…" she said and Sasha frowned.

"What did you see when you woke up?" Connie asked and Evelyn frowned. "I woke up to someone poking at me with a pen, and then as if I hadn't breathed in my entire life I took a breath and scared the daylights out of him. I thought I was dead, but… in the end it hadn't been me that had died." She whispered and Connie frowned and looked at the ground. "Jean cried like a baby when he thought you were dead too." Ymir said and Jean made choking noises.

"I mean, he cried over Marco, but he cried over you like the world was ending and he was about to die." Ymir said and Jean glared at her. "What the hell! I did not!" he snapped and Ymir smirked at him. Reiner shook his head with a sigh. Levi made a noise of annoyance from the front of the group. Evelyn looked at him in curiosity, but he didn't look back at them. "Ah, don't worry about him…"Erwin said and draped an arm over Evelyn's shoulders. "You look just like him, except you're extremely pretty." Erwin said, his voice completely serious, and Evelyn made a choking sound as a blush covered her cheeks. The group of cadets wondered if the commander was even taking them seriously.

When Erwin said that, Levi turned to look at him, a deadly glint in his eyes. Erwin just smiled, as if the death promising look didn't bother him. Evelyn puffed out her cheeks and fiddled with her fingers, the blush on her cheeks making her look as if she were going to explode in embarrassment. Jean just scoffed and looked away. "C-commander… you're embarrassing her…" Petra whined and the commander chuckled. "You're filthy." Levi leered and Erwin blinked at him. "Filthy, filthy, filthy…" he grumbled as they made their way to the castle.

Hanji burst out laughing. She looked from the commander to Levi, who was glaring at his friend, who was standing over his younger sister like a weirdo. "Ano… commander Erwin…" Sasha called out, drawing the older male's attention. She whispered something in his ear and he blinked. Sasha grinned and skipped away. Levi looked as if he had been attacked by a germ infested mop when he saw his commander continue to flirt with his younger sister.

The commander leaned in to say something to her but Evelyn was fed up with his relentless flirting, so she did the only reasonable thing. She grabbed him by the arm and flipped him. He was face down in the dirt when she crossed her arms over her chest and grabbed Levi's wrist. "I need help finding my room, and I was most definitely not going to ask him to help me, despite him being our commanding officer." she snapped and Levi smirked at his commander, who seemed surprised that he had been flipped with such a simple move. Or it could have been due to how swiftly the smaller woman had flipped him.

Hanji nudged him with her foot and offered him a hand, while laughing the entire time. "Just because she looks like him, doesn't mean she won't be brutal when it comes to your flirts. I'll have you know, if I had a sibling I would dissect anyone who tried to flirt with them, you're lucky he didn't go after you." Hanji laughed and a slight blush crossed the commander's face and she rolled her eyes. "Not that you wouldn't like it if he tried to attack you." She sighed and rolled her eyes.

All the elite members knew that their commander was weird and flirted with anyone that breathed. He had no preferences… well except… he especially liked Captain Levi, not that Levi was anywhere near giving into his commander in that way. Levi dragged Evelyn down the hall and opened a door. "Here, this one is for you. Mine is right there." he said and she sighed. "That is why my room is here isn't it?" she asked with a smile and he blinked and turned away. "No…" he said and she giggled. "Whatever Levi…" she said and he sighed.

"We should talk." She said with a small smile and he blinked. "I guess that couldn't hurt…" he said and followed her into the room. She looked around and was actually surprised it was clean. "I see you went on one of your cleaning frenzies." She said and he shrugged. "So I see you made some friends." Evelyn said and he gave her a blank look. "Don't you dare give me that look. I can read you like a book you aren't fooling me." she said and he chuckled. "I know. And yes, I have. And I have lost some as well." He said and pulled out a leather pouch and opened it and delicately removed the contents.

They were the wings of freedom patches that the elites wore. There were so many of them, and each had a name written on the back of them. "How do you know who's is who's?" she asked and he picked one up and ran his thumb over the wings. "As I remove the patch… I take the time to mourn them while I write the names on them. That way I know who was actually here… it's my way of always remembering them." He said and picked up each of the patches. "I mourn them differently than you do… you can actually show that you're mourning… I… I cannot… I find it hard to show emotion anymore… sometimes I think… I think I'm getting used to all the death that happens around me, but then I stop and I look at these and I realize you will never get used to the pain. It is always there, eating away at your soul, even if you don't feel it at first." He said and she nodded.

"I understand. We all have our ways of mourning. You have physical items that let you know that they are there, giving you the strength to keep going. I don't have physical items to remind me, they are always there in my heart, giving me the strength to keep going." She said and he nodded he understood. A knock at the door interrupted him from saying anything further. He stood and walked over to the door, he was not amused with who he saw.

"Uh… is Evelyn here?" he asked and Evelyn stood and walked towards the door, swiping the can of disinfectant spray from Levi's hand, sensing he was about to spray it on Jean. "Hi Jean, is there something you needed?" she asked as she tossed the can of spray out of her open window, causing Levi to glare at her, then walk over to the window to see where it landed. "You weren't there to get this." He said and handed her, her scout's cape.

He blinked in surprise and snorted in amusement as he looked around her. She sighed and turned around to see Levi leaning out of the window trying to get the can of disinfectant spray. "Levi-nii!" she snarled and yanked him in the window. "You can't spray him! He isn't dirty!" she snarled and Jean stopped laughing, only to turn to her and blink at her in confusion. "I was going to go spray commander…" he said in a calm voice. "He is filthy." He said and Evelyn sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"He put his hands on you so you are filthy too." He said and she glared at him and was about to rant but he put his hand over her mouth to silence her. "Shhh… be silent…. You are filthy." He said and Jean tried to keep the amused smile from his lips. Evelyn shoved his hand off her mouth and she sighed. "Jean, you have obviously figured out where the showers are because I can see that your hair is still wet, so could you take me there? Since Levi thinks I'm dirty…" she asked with a small unamused look at her brother; Jean blushed while Levi looked like he was having a conniption fit.

"No! HE will not take you anywhere!" Levi grumbled and attempted to grab Evelyn's wrist, but her bare foot found its way to his face. "No! That would be weird! You are not taking me to the showers!" she snapped and Levi rubbed his face in disgust where her foot had been. "And HE is? You don't find that inappropriate in the slightest?" Levi grumbled and Evelyn gave him a dirty look. "Look here beansprout! I am not having you escort me to the bath house!" she snapped and someone in the hall almost choked on their laughter.

"Sorry to cut your conversation a little… short…" Hanji laughed and Levi rubbed his eyes. "Yeah… we're sorry about him, but you really shouldn't look 'down' on him for it." Petra giggled and Levi rubbed his face with both hands he was awfully tempted to hit one or both of them with a broom at this point. Evelyn realized why his height had become the main topic of their jokes and she laughed. "I'm so sorry nii-san! I didn't mean for them to… to…" she began but her giggles cut her off. "Beansprout is a new one." Hanji said and Levi gave her a dirty look.

"Now, cadet, how about you escort the lady to the showers like a gentleman." Petra said with a wink and Jean coughed and looked away to hide his faint blush. Evelyn gathered her things and followed him. He was silent almost half of the way there and she couldn't figure out why. "Umm… Jean… Are you alright?" she asked and he looked at her confused. "Yeah, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" he asked and she frowned. "You're really quiet… like you have nothing to say." She said and he furrowed his brows.

"Are you implying that I'm always talking?" he asked with a smirk and she rolled her eyes. "No, I'm implying that you are abnormally quiet, and that usually you have something to say. Whether it be about Eren's stupidity or about food, usually you have something to say." She said and he shrugged as he looked up at the sky. "I'm just thinking…" he said and she frowned and looked at the ground. "I'm sorry we forced you into this, Marco and I… I guess we weren't really thinking when we both thought it would be for the best. We were trying to keep our group together… y'know? He had decided he wanted to be in the scouts before we had even graduated… and… we didn't want to have to say good bye to you…" she said and he furrowed his brow.

"You didn't force me into this. You both helped me realize that defeating the titans are more important that being safe and sound behind a wall, unsure of when you were going to die because the titans could appear at any given moment. When I found Marco laying there against the wall, it made me realize just how much one life means to another person. I had lost my friend, and I will never see him again. I'm an egotistical pain in the ass, so I know none of the others think very much of me, so what did I have left to lose? Nothing, so I decided to fight in the name of my friend, so we can see freedom together, even if he will never physically see it." He said and she watched him with awestruck eyes.

"And… forgive me for always fighting with you." He said and looked at her. She smiled at him and shook her head. "Don't worry about it. We always fought over whether you were going to join the military police or not, but you still had those moments where you showed me that we were friends. Every time you take my hand you show me that although we fought about everything and the only common factor we had was Marco, that we have always been friends." She said and he blinked.

"When we first had to fight the titans, although you were whining and complaining that you would have only had one more day and then you would have been headed for wall Sina, you took my hand and gave me strength, just like Marco had. When we were being sent back out to fight the titans once more to protect Eren, you took my hand and gave me the strength to fight then too, just as Marco had. You and Marco both thought that I was the one giving you the strength to keep going, even though we were scared out of our minds, but you both were wrong. You both, my best friends, were giving me the strength to keep going, even if you didn't see it that way." Evelyn said and his eyes were wide as he listened to her.

"You make it sound like you love us or something." He scoffed and looked away and she blushed and looked away from him with an angry yet horrified look. "It's not like that!" she snapped and he chuckled. "You two were my only friends." She huffed and he ruffled her hair. "I know, I was joking…" he said and she looked at him and raised a brow. "You joking? Uh… hmm. Interesting. I took you for one to always speak your mind and the truth, never thought I would hear a joke coming from you." She said and he rolled his eyes.

"Uh… about those showers though… they don't have umm… they don't have a… a guys or a girls separation… it's just a group of curtains…" he said with a slight dusting of pink on his cheeks and her face flushed red. "I think that's why Levi was adamant on… uh… escorting you here." He said and she clutched her clothes to her chest. "Well if anyone tries anything I can handle myself." She said and he frowned. "I... I can't let you." He said shakily, and she blinked at him owlishly.

"Why not?" she asked and he cleared his throat, still not looking at her. "Uh… b- because as your leader… Your life is in my hands… and… uh… I h- have to protect you." He said and she giggled. "Well, thank you. That means a lot to me. And if you think your leadership duties go that far, then I will allow it. I just ask one thing though…" she said and he blinked at her. "Would you hold my clean clothes and towel? I don't want them walking away without me, y'know?" she said and he nodded.

They walked into the bath house and she chose the shower in the corner that had the short tiled wall opposite the main wall. There didn't seem to be that many people there, so he wouldn't have to do much he supposed. He gulped when he heard the fabric hit the floor on the other side of the curtain. This was going to be harder than he thought… he was still a teenager after all…

:-:-:-:-:-:

Reiner, Armin, Mikasa, Ymir, Christa, and Eren walked into the bath house and the first thing they noticed was all the empty showers, the second thing they noticed was Jean. He was standing outside of one of the running showers and his face was red and his lower lip was trembling slightly, along with his fingers. He was holding a uniform and appeared to be guarding someone. Reiner laughed and pointed out that, If steam could be shooting from Jean's ears, it would be.

"So she has you playing bodyguard huh?" Ymir laughed and he scoffed and turned his face away from them, he only turned back when he choked and realized the white tiles are reflective. "Ano… Jean… I need my towel." Evelyn said and Jean noticed that the water had been turned off and she had cracked the curtain. "Oh my! Levi would not be happy!" Hanji' voice rang out as she strolled in as well as Petra. Petra giggled and shook her head. "Its cute and a bit noble. And they say chivalry is dead." Petra laughed and Jean blushed deeper as he handed Evelyn her towel.

Reiner and Eren's jaws came slightly unhinged as Evelyn walked out of the shower in nothing but her towel. "What, you don't expect me to get dressed in there, do ya? It's all wet and there is just no way." She said and Jean's hands twitched as she took her clothes form him. "Thank you." She said and he opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Mikasa wrapped her scarf around Eren's eyes and shoved him towards a shower. "Get cleaned up." She said and shook her head, boys…

Jean covered his eyes with one hand and looked away as Evelyn laughed. "You are such a gentleman, Jean, you can go now." She giggled and he made choking noises when he tried to talk. "Oooh damn… friend zoned." Reiner laughed as Jean made his way out of the bath house. Ymir shoved Reiner and he grumbled as he made his way towards one of the showers. Ymir whistled as Evelyn dropped her towel and Evelyn blushed. "I didn't think you swung that way, Ymir." She said with a blush and Ymir laughed. "Guys just don't suit my taste, they ain't got the booty. I like the booty, so I look at the booty." She said in a completely serious and nonchalant tone, making Evelyn blush darker.

"Um… thank you I guess…" she said and swiftly got dressed, maybe she should have gotten dressed in the shower… But then… she wouldn't have gotten to see how flustered Jean had gotten. The thought made her laugh lightly. She smiled at her hands, but her smile soon faded as her chest began to ache and the emptiness of her circle of friends had hit her once more. She clutched her hands to her chest and she tried to hold back the tears.

"Do you truly blame me… Marco?" she asked, referring towards the nightmare that had kept her up for so many nights now. The dark circles around her eyes almost rivalled that of a raccoon, but she wasn't sure as to what to do now… she felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned to see her brother staring into her eyes. "He doesn't blame you. He may be gone, but according to what I have heard he cared for you and it would most likely piss him off knowing you thought he blamed you." Levi said and a familiar ginger woman walked over.

"Petra…" Evelyn greeted and the ginger smiled. "If you ever need anything, come talk to me. I promise I will always be here for you. I want to be your friend after all." She said and Evelyn clenched her hands to her chest and the tears began falling once more. "He loved me… so much… and… I could never prove to him that I truly felt the same. I loved him… but not like a married couple… Not like Hanna and Franz loved each other." She sobbed and Petra was taken off guard.

"I believe, that he knew that. And I believe he will always remember that. You loved him, maybe not in the exact same way he loved you, but you loved him, and knowing that before you die… would no doubt make him happier than words ever could." Petra said and Levi looked at the slightly taller female. "I don't think I could have worded that in such a girly manner." He said evenly and Evelyn laughed, despite her tears… she laughed.

"Thank you… both of you…" she said and they looked at her in surprise. "Levi is blunt, but you are soft and caring about it… thank you." She said and Levi nodded. Petra smiled and walked Evelyn to her room, which she had all to herself.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own attack on titan.

Evelyn watched her brother pace the room before her. "Evelyn… I…" he began, then stopped, as if weighing the decision of letting those words escape. She watched him with curious eyes, she had no idea what he was trying to say, but she had a feeling they were important. She watched him as he stopped pacing to turn to her and place a hand on her head. "I have to tell you some things… but I'm not sure how to explain them without you hating me." he said and she frowned and crossed one leg over the other.

She leaned forwards, removing her palms from his desk. She folded her hands neatly in her lap and watched him with furrowed brows. "We… we have secrets. A lot of secrets that not anyone but you and I know." He said and she cocked her head to the side and opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. "Evelyn… I have two sets of special instructions for you." He said and she looked a bit surprised. " First off. Don't be reckless, don't get stupid, and don't get to close to that Jean kid." He said and her soft, curious eyes hardened into angry, loathing eyes just as swiftly.

"What gives you the right to tell me who I can and can't be around! I don't need your protection from that sort of encounter! If you think you need to protect me from men, you are way too late! Marco was everything to me, if he had asked me to marry him, I would have! Despite how selfish I am, I would have married him, just to keep that smile on his lips!" she yelled and his eyes narrowed. "You don't understand." He began and her angered eyes burned into his as she stood and glared down at him.

" What do I not understand!? You want me to stay away from the only other REAL friend I have! What do I not understand here!?" she yelled and he had had it with her yelling. " I'm trying to protect him from you!" he yelled and her eyes went wide in surprise. Her anger vanished and her hands shook. " W-why would you have to protect him from me?" she asked and his hardened glare softened a bit. Tears formed in her eyes and she clenched her hands to her chest. "Why would he need to… to be protected from me?" she asked, her voice bordering a sob.

"Because you are different, like me; and because we are different, anyone we tend to get extremely close to tends to… not make it very long…" he said and she sobbed into her fisted hands. "S-so you're saying if I stay away he might make it for a few more good years?" she asked and he shook his head. "That's not what I'm saying at all." He said and she looked up at him in surprise. "I'm only saying don't get too close to him, not to stay away." He said and she looked at her hands.

"How different am I… am I really?" She asked and he looked over at her from where he had checked the hallway to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "Just how different am I… from you?" she asked and he sighed and turned to face her. "That is where the second set of instructions come in. Father made sure that I knew what I had to tell you to do, but he never actually thought about how bad it would have been for him if he were to try it. I can't explain what this will do, but I'm pretty sure you should be perfectly fine after." He said and began explaining things to her that both frightened her, and intrigued her all the same.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Evelyn patted her horse's mane as it snorted in delight. She and everyone else had been training to get their horses to get used to them over the past two weeks, today was the day. She was finally going to see the outside of the walls, the commander was at the front, and was going to give the command to move out soon. The Monstrous grey and black stallion beneath her stamped his feet, excited to be going outside again. She loved the way he looked, his face was speckled white and grey with inky black lining around his eyes in sort of a coon eye, but the markings cornered out into fierce points on both the inside and the outside of his eyes. The tips of his ears had the same inky black on them, as did each of his feet. His body was Gray with white speckles adorning his thighs. The black markings on his legs rose up around his front feet as if he had stepped in a bucket of paint to his ankles. His back legs were black up to his hocks, he was fierce looking in every aspect, like a warrior painted proudly with battle paint.

"Move out!" she heard the command all the way from the back. Chills of excitement ran through her body and goose bumps covered her skin. She felt Sparta's muscles jump in his excitement. His feet clattered against the ground in an excited gesture. Hanji heard Evelyn's horse rumble loudly with excitement. "Whoa… That Titan of a horse is really excited…" she said and Levi looked back in time to see the stallion rear up and take off with a loud clatter of hooves. He had a guilty expression in his eyes and Hanji was curious as to why.

"Let's get to it, Sparta!" she said and the Monstrous stallion whinnied loudly and sped forth. Two canisters of gas were strapped to her hips, two already in her 3D mobility gear. She saw Jean and his group break off to her side and she broke off with them, her squad leader told her make it quick and she nodded. She rode right up next to Reiner and Jean. "If you get into any trouble, just call." They both said at the same time and both Evelyn and Jean shook their heads. She bumped fists with him and then yanked Sparta's reins and she sped off to catch up with her squad leader.

The flares started flying and Evelyn began to feel a bit distressed. Sparta was not bothered what so ever, he just continued to canter at his minimum speed. It was enough to get away from a titan, but unless he was worried he wouldn't run full speed. She looked around with her lips in a tight line. There were so many flares for regular titans, but there were also the variant flares as well. Her squad leader screamed as she was yanked from her horse. Evelyn urged Sparta to go faster but the horse wouldn't go any faster; he obviously wasn't worried about being able to escape. The horse was smart and calm despite the situation.

Evelyn took a deep breath and calmed herself as well, no doubt she was troubling Sparta with her stress levels. Evelyn fumbled with the flares and shot off a red one, signaling a titan. She saw that the squad to her right set one off as well. The titan was running after her, having already wiped out the other four of her five person squad. She grit her teeth and pulled her blades from their current housing, which earned her a snort from Sparta. "What to do…" she grimaced and Sparta tossed his head towards the titan chasing them as if telling her to get rid of it. her eyes scanned the area and she bit her lip.

Evelyn didn't know what to do, there was nothing for her to climb or use her 3D gear to get to. "Wait here Sparta." Evelyn said and she stood on the horse's back, only to send her gear flying and connect to the titan. She was yanked up by her hips, a feeling she had grown accustomed to, there was no time to revel in the feeling of flying though. It swatted her as she circled around it, trying to gain momentum to be able to wipe it out with one quick hit. Her blade sliced through its neck and it dropped. She flipped backwards off of the titan, but landed wrong and she heard the crack of her ankle before she fell.

She got back on Sparta, who had pranced back over to her with an excited snort, as if telling her I told you that you could kill it. She ignored the pain in her ankle as she urged Sparta to start running once more. She met up with another group and saw Christa break off from that group. She yanked Sparta's reins so she would run towards Christa. Christa saw her and nodded, holding the reins to a very familiar horse, and a not so familiar one. "Jean's horse…" Evelyn managed and Christa nodded. "I saw him running around, but he was panicked and I didn't think that he would make it back to Jean without guidance. I had seen an emergency flare so I took towards it." She said then looked back to where Evelyn's group would have been.

"What happened to your group?" she asked and Evelyn shook her head. "The titan came from nowhere… they were wiped out…" she said and Christa looked on verge of tears. "I'm sorry…" she said and Evelyn shook her head. "Don't be, they aren't living in fear anymore…" she whispered and Christa looked at her in shock. "I… I think I understand…" she said and Evelyn nodded. "Now let's hurry and get to them before they decide to give up." Evelyn said and Christa nodded.

Vibrations in the ground caused Sparta to slow and stamp his feet like an ignorant little child. "Evelyn, what's up with your horse?" Christa asked and Evelyn grit her teeth. "Do you want me to get eat Sparta?" she whined as the variant ran past her and straight for the blonde girl in front of her. "Christa, you have to go faster!" Evelyn yelled, goose bumps of fear trailing all over her body. "Let's go, Sparta." She said and the brilliant stallion tossed his head and took off running, straight past Christa and the other horses. The titan shifted his attention to her and she motioned for Christa to go to Jean and his companions.

"Go Sparta go!" she exclaimed and the horse clacked his jaws, he was vocal even if his words were no more than clacks of the jaw and random whinnies or jerks to his massive burly head. He turned his head to the side and looked from her to the titan with expectant eyes. "You have high hopes for me, don't you Sparta." She sighed, it wasn't a question, but the horse clacked his jaw in reply. She smiled at the brawny beast beneath her. He was tall, well muscled, and agile, despite his stature and size. His huge hooves gripped the ground and the sound was comforting to her, like rain on a stormy night.

She moved her ankle a bit, trying to assess the actual damage to it. she could move it and it didn't hurt as bad as it had, a dull Sting was all that was left. "I'm going in!" she said and Sparta released a comforting snort. She knew it was going to be harder taking out this fifteen meter class titan, not only because it was so tall, nor was it because it was a unique variant, it was because she didn't think she could gain the height nor momentum to propel herself up there…

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

"Jean… Reiner… Armin…" Christa called and turned frantically behind her as she saw the titan stop moving to bend down towards something. "Evelyn is fighting over there…" she said softly and both Jean's and Reiner's eyes went wide. They swiftly mounted their horses and took off that direction, only when they got close enough… they saw Sparta running circles around the titan's feet. "Keep distracting it, Sparta!" Evelyn's voice rang out and they watched as Evelyn landed on the ground about thirty feet in front of the titan.

She was on the ground. Why was she on the ground?

Evelyn fell into a sprinting stance and took off running towards the titan. She jumped to avoid it's grabby hands and she sent her wires out. She spun around the front of the titan and just as she was about to attempt to get around to the other side, a sickening chomping noise was heard, followed by the resounding clack of teeth. Evelyn had been eaten whole. One bite had been all it had taken to scar Jean once more. His hands fell limp for a moment, but then grasped his blades tightly as he and Reiner rushed forwards at the titan.

"You dumb bastard!" Reiner yelled as he lunged to attack, but the titan began falling as soon as he got within striking distance, because two blades protruded from the back of its neck, right at the nape. Evelyn's angered scream as she cut her way out through the inside out through the nape, resounded around them like when Eren's titan form roared. "Ahhhh!" she yelled as the titan fell, it sounded haunting. Her scream sent chills down Jean's spine. She held her head and hit her knees, still screaming.

Her hands trembled visibly as she patted the ground as if she had feared she was never going to see it again. She tossed her head back and looked up at the sky and grinned. Then she put her hands on her face and hunched over. Her soft laughter caught their attention as it slowly got louder. Her hands hit the ground beside her and she flopped over backwards and sighed. "I'm still here…" she laughed, those words bringing her the most relief out of anything at the moment.

Reiner had hit the ground a few feet away from her, his horse trotting obediently back up to him. Sparta began jumping around as if in celebration that his companion was still alright. He took one sniff at her though, and shook his head in disgust. "Great, now you're going to think I'm filthy huh?" she laughed as the titan blood steamed on her skin and faded away. "Are you fucking insane!" Jean yelled and Evelyn looked up at him. Her eyes went wide and she stood and rushed towards him, nearly tackling him in a hug. He felt her jaw tremble against his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her with a sigh.

"I was worried when I saw Christa with your horse… I thought something bad had happened." She said and stepped away from him. "You have got to be the biggest idiot I have ever met." He sighed and she frowned at him. "I wasn't planning on the stupid thing actually getting close enough to eat me. sheesh. Trust me, if anything, that was definitely not in the plan." She ground out but then her sharp eyes landed on Sparta, who had ceased his happy jumping the moment her eyes landed on him.

The horse actually looked slightly fearful. "What the hell, Sparta!" she snapped and the horse turned his head away and snorted. "I told Levi that you wanted me dead! You're the only reason I went after the stupid titan in the first place." She snapped and the horse released a series of huffs and snorts without even looking at her, as if he was arguing with her. She shook her head, ignoring the looks she was getting from the others. "Your horse… is… really smart…" Christa managed and the horse turned to her and huffed, blowing her hair out of her face.

Evelyn's eyes went wide and she yanked his reins. "Sorry… I forgot to mention he doesn't like… uh… other girls." She said and Christa looked at the horse in shock. "I'm sorry…" she said and the horse tossed his head in arrogance, that fact was shown by the way he huffed as he turned just to resume completely ignoring the blonde. The green flare for them to change position hit the sky and Evelyn hopped atop Sparta. "We have to go, they aren't issuing a retreat." She said and the rest of their group looked surprised.

"Come on Sparta, let's hit the road!" she said and as the rest of the horses attempted to catch up with Sparta, he stopped his fast walking and stirred up dust beneath his feet. "Get serious, Sparta." She said with a pat to his neck and a smirk on her lips. One look towards the horses beside him and the horse snorted and the group behind her watched in awe as the massive horse sped forth faster than they could. Another titan showed itself and Evelyn fisted her hands around the reins in her grasp. "Go ahead, I will stall it, then I will catch up." She said and the group hesitantly nodded. They didn't doubt she could catch up fairly swiftly as they had seen just how fast her horse could go while just fooling around.

She urged Sparta off towards the titan, she didn't feel like taking another one on, and Sparta appeared to agree with her. She breathed deeply, trying to calm herself. The reverberating sound of Sparta's hooves placed a thick melodic sound in the atmosphere around her. The way his muscles rippled as he ran felt soothing against her aching ankle. She turned to see the titan gaining on her as Sparta slowed down. Her eyes cut to her horse and he only snorted.

She stood on his back while he ran and she clicked her tongue once, and he tossed his head in understanding. He ran around the titan to circle behind his legs. She lunged and cut the tendons in his legs, causing him to fall over. She jumped onto his back and walked up his spine. She jammed her blades into his back and began cutting through the nape. When she threw the chunk of flesh she had cut out of it, she nearly screamed in surprise. But then she blinked and rubbed her eyes, hoping that what she had seen had only been an illusion. A second… smaller spine… resided atop the larger one.

She shook her head. This was nothing. "Sparta, to the forest of large trees." She said and he ran over to her and grabbed her on the way by. He rushed towards the large forest that her brother had told her to head for. Evelyn sighed in relief once she had spotted the trees, but her relief didn't live long. She clicked her tongue and Sparta huffed and ran faster. He turned at the last moment and she sent out her navigational wires to send her up the tree and land near Nanaba.

"You're late, Evelyn." He said and she rolled her eyes. "I was a bit held up you see, titans were everywhere, they seemed especially fond of me today." She snapped and he sighed. "You kill them?" he asked and she nodded. "One eat her though." Armin called from where he stood and she sent a glare at him. "She was reckless then? I suppose I will have to tell Levi that she is acting as such." He sighed and Armin offered an apologetic look. "Captain told me to inform him of anything you do that could hurt yourself." He said and she frowned.

"Don't fret over it Armin. Levi will stare me to death and tell me I'm a fucking idiot for getting eaten. What else could he do, there is no way he is going to put a soldier who had the balls to cut herself out of the nape through the inside of a titan, in some sort of solitary confinement. I wouldn't recommend trying it though… it smells like a septic tank in there. And thus, I'm taking a bath the moment I get back to the HQ." she said then her gaze flickered to Jean, who looked confused.

"Would you guard me once more?" She asked, slightly humored and he almost choked on the air he was trying to breathe. "Just kidding." She laughed and smiled over at him, but her smile faded away as she dropped to her rump and leaned against the tree with a sorrowful look. "What right do I have to think of a shower… when squad leader Nami… Luke, Avery, Denise, and Yura… are all dead. The only thing they wanted was to see their families… and now they will never see them again…" Evelyn whispered and she could see the flicker of sadness that hit Nanaba's face. Nami had been his friend.

Screams echoed through the forest, sounding something similar to a female wildcat trapped in a corner and attempting to free herself with her fear inducing cries. Evelyn forced herself to her feet and jumped onto Reiner's Branch and then she lunged from it to one of the larger branches. "Evelyn rivaille, if you don't return to formation now I will have to report your actions to Levi." Nanaba yelled and Evelyn clutched the side of the tree she had latched onto after jumping from one branch to land on the side of the tree.

"Nanaba-san, where exactly do you think I am going?" she asked and he appeared surprised. "I understand the risks of going there, but I also understand that everyone else here is frightened beyond belief. I wouldn't recommend following." She said before she propelled herself to another branch. "I will report my actions to the commander himself." She said and she jumped forwards. She continued by use of tree branch. She saw the female titan in the distance and she hurried forwards and burst out into the small clear area, only to shoot out her navigational wires and swing over to the tree the commander stood in.

"What happened commander?" she asked and he frowned deeper. "She sacrificed herself to keep this information away from us." He said and she furrowed her brows. Levi landed on the tree behind them and she turned to look at him. "Status report from the tree line I'm guessing?" he asked and she shook her head. "No, I came to see what was going on. And… to tell you that Nanaba is whiny and was going to tattle on me." she said with a shrug and he simply raised a brow.

"He thinks I'm reckless. It wasn't my fault I was eaten, it was most definitely not part of the plan. Only a small group would have known if Armin hadn't opened his mouth." She muttered and Levi swatted her on the back of the head with a glare. "We will talk further upon the fact you were eaten when we return, right now we have more important matters, seeing as you are alive and well." He said and she smirked and rolled her eyes. "I figured I would get that response. Anyways, aren't you even slightly curious as to why the female titan would let herself get eaten, but there be a lot more of that horrid steam than there should be?" she asked and Erwin nodded.

"We already know she has taken off, so Levi is going to refill his tanks and he is going to head after her. You, on the other hand, are going to go make sure the rest of the cadets stay put until told otherwise." Erwin said and Evelyn looked up at him and opened her mouth to speak, but he gave her a sharp look. That's right… he became an impenetrable rock wall when they left the HQ… "You will stay put or else I can demote you." He said and she raised a brow. "I haven't even been promoted yet." She said and he looked away from her for a moment. "Well then I will just have to forget about my thoughts of making you squad leader in the future, now won't I?" he asked and she blinked.

"Me a squad leader?" she mumbled then her thoughts reflected upon what Levi had told her. 'Don't get too close.' He had said. She shook her head. "I cannot take a promotion. Not for a long time. If I do, I will be emotionally compromised at the loss of a teammate. I understand why I would be a first choice, but I cannot fulfill that duty. I am Levi's sister, so naturally I would be top candidate, but I have to decline. I am already emotionally compromised." She said before bowing respectfully and jumping to another tree branch.

"Emotionally compromised, huh? Never thought I would hear that from a Rivaille." He said before turning to his second hand and telling him to give the signal for retreat. "My sister does not lie, she is emotionally compromised. She has been that way since before she arrived here. She only realized it after the death of a very close male friend, Marco Bodt." Levi said as he swapped his tanks. Erwin watched as Levi did so, not an ounce of regret in his being.

"You don't truly care for your sister as much as you let on, do you?" he asked and Levi looked up at him with angered eyes. "My sister is all I have left. I cannot forgive her for certain things… but I cannot hold those things against her because she doesn't even know the truth herself. I find it hard to hate her when she doesn't even know what she has done wrong for me to hate her. She doesn't understand, but when she learns of what she has done, I still doubt I can hate her, because in all actuality… it was never her fault. She had never asked for those things to happen." Levi said and Erwin stared after him in shock, not understanding what his captain meant in the slightest.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Evelyn hit the tree Nanaba was in, bumping into him and nearly knocking him out of the tree. "Oh… I'm sorry… squad leader." She said in a falsely apologetic manner. "So how did your talk with the commander go?" He asked with a frown. Evelyn sighed. "Just what I would have expected, threats of punishment then questions and the what not. But then again, Levi hit me over the head and told me we would converse more on the subject later, so it makes me wonder exactly what he has done that was so reckless to where he would only swat me on the head…" Evelyn said with a single finger tapping on her chin.

"You're an insane psychopath that needs to go into hiding, just like squad leader Hanji." He muttered and she rolled her eyes. "I was told to make sure you all stayed put until the signal for retreat was given." She sighed and leaned against the tree. Evelyn frowned and slid down against the tree. Her mind went to what Levi had told her and her heart sank. 'Don't get too close to anyone, it's not particularly in case of your own safety, but of theirs.' He had said; she stared down at her hands with a saddened look. A familiar whinny from below made Evelyn look down at Sparta, who was stamping his feet in irritation.

'Just how much different am I… that even Levi thinks I'm a danger to those around me…?' she thought before dropping from the tree and sliding down the sides along the rough bark. "Sparta." Was all Evelyn had to say before the horse made his way over to her. "The order to retreat has been given, we have to move out." Nanaba said and Sparta got a swift glimmer in his eye as Nanaba took the lead. Jean's horse found its place right beside Sparta and he looked at her with serious eyes. "Eve… is everything alright?" he asked and Evelyn shook her head. "Not really, but it will all get better with time…" she sighed and he gripped her shoulder tightly.

"You can trust me… if something is wrong you can tell me." he said and her lips twitched a few times before she doubled over and began laughing, but soon enough her laughs became sobs. "I don't know what to do anymore, Jean…" she sobbed and he frowned. "Trust in your friends, that's all you have to do…" he said and she fisted her hands over her eyes and began sobbing louder. "Move out, the support squads have caught up, we have to go now." Nanaba announced and the sound of horses stampeding around her dulled out Jean's words, but he grabbed her hand and the look in his eyes made her feel safe.

"Let's go home, and then we can talk more about how you have totally lost your cool." He said as he released her hand and yanked his horse's reins. "I don't see why you need a horse Jean, you look like one already." Connie laughed as he ran past. "Hey! What the hell Connie!" Jean growled before he took off after Connie. "Let's go run ahead of our grumpy squad leader, ne Sparta?" she asked and the horse clacked his teeth in delight then sped past both Jean and Connie, who looked at her in awe as she sped past.

She raced to catch up with the main group, who had the wagons with the deceased soldiers in them. She raced up to ride beside Levi, who had an unusual darkness about his eyes. "Levi-nii…" she whispered and with one glance from those dark eyes, the pain that emanated off of him clutched at her heart and squeezed it painfully. "What happened?" she asked, her voice trembling and he barely even appeared to register that she had spoken to him.

"They're all dead, my entire squad." He said quietly and she felt as if all strength left her body and her muscles felt about ready to give up and let go. Her head dropped forwards and their names lingered on her broken lips. "P-petra too?" she asked and he looked down. "Auruo… Erd… Gunter… Petra… forgive us…" she sobbed as she clutched Sparta's reins tighter. Evelyn felt as if she were going to suffocate on her tears, she had become friends with Levi's squad, as odd and interesting as they had been…

"Was it the female titan?" she asked and he nodded. "Have you figured out who she is?" she asked and he gave her a long look before he replied. "We have an idea as to who she is, but I can't say for sure as of yet." He said and she nodded. "I want her to pay." She sneered and he looked at her and nodded. "She will." He said and she nodded.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Having to ride past the townsfolk was devastating all its own. They stared at them with disgusted eyes, but she had enough pride to ride in with her head held high. She wasn't going to let this get her down, she was going to be the best soldier she could be. The pain that stung at her heart as she heard Petra's father talking to Levi about her and marriage. She would never get the image of his horrified face when Levi told him as politely as he could, that Petra wasn't coming home, and she wouldn't get the chance to get married.

Her vision blurred and the tears began falling before she could stop them. She couldn't keep her pride up any longer, she had no pride to begin with; so what use was there trying to keep something that was never there to begin with? She dropped from Sparta's back and the moment her feet touched the ground, her vision blurred and everything fell dark. The last sight she saw was Jean and Levi shoving through the crowd to get to her.

:-:

Jean paced his room, he was admittedly extremely worried about Evelyn. He knew something was wrong. Her smiles had appeared forced, she had dark rings around her eyes as if she hadn't been sleeping right, and she had become careless and extremely reckless. He didn't know what was going on with her but he knew it wasn't good for her health. Rapid footfalls echoed down the hallway and he furrowed his brows as he peered out of his and Eren's room.

He saw squad leader Hanji running down the hall and she swung right past him into his room. "Jean, right?" she asked and he nodded. "Shorty wants to talk to you. I'm not sure what it is about but I have my suspicions. I think it has something to do with Evelyn, because you're like… her boyfriend right?" she asked and Jean choked on his breath. "N-no!" he bit out swiftly with a blush. She laughed and fanned the air in front of her. "Ah! No need to be shy! You two are always together, so everyone already knows!" she laughed and his gaze hit the floor.

"I'm not her boyfriend. Her boyfriend is dead, Squad leader Hanji." Jean said and her whole demeanor fell into a subdued sadness. "Oh… I see… what happened to him?" she asked softly and Jean shook his head. He felt the familiar burning at his eyes and pain in his chest. "No one knows…" he began and her face contorted in shock. "We just found him… we had been fighting titans and he had just been there, and then he wasn't. He was my best friend." Jean said and Hanji frowned. "And… so is she… but when I heard her scream as she had found him… there was nothing I could do. Hearing her scream like that… I thought she was dying…" he said and Hanji's frown didn't fade, it only became deeper and more sorrowful.

"Those two had been inseparable, and after he died, she pretty much went down hill and no one knows how to help her." Jean said and Hanji nodded. "So is that who she is crying over? She is always crying in her sleep. Petra told me that Evelyn had been having recurring nightmares of a boy named Marco blaming her for his death… is that him?" she asked and jean fisted his hands and nodded. "Uh. Yeah… Marco… he is the only reason I am here. If it weren't for his death, I would have never joined the scouts. I wanted my vengeance in the name of my friend, his death will not be in vain because I won't die until I get it. Now if you don't mind, I don't feel like cleaning the stables for a week again." He said and Hanji watched him go with a nod.

"Good luck!" she yelled after him. He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked down the corridor. He drowned himself in his thoughts and the only thing he could actually hear was the echo of his footsteps down the hall. "Evelyn… what is going on with you?" he sighed and looked up to see Levi's bedroom door open. He knocked on the open door and Levi stood. "Come in." he said and Jean walked in. the room was overly neat and had a door connecting it to another room, which Levi motioned for him to follow him into.

"As you already know, Evelyn has become quite… stupid." He said and sat in his rotating chair. He spun once and threw his feet up on his desk. Jean couldn't help but notice the grimace as dirt fell from the bottom of Levi's boot onto his desk. He sighed, but made no move to clean it off his desk, despite his obvious OCD. And no… he didn't mean obsessive compulsive as in things had to be perfect and symmetrical… no he meant Obsessive Cleaning Disorder, which pretty much wrapped up the captain into pretty little packaging, but didn't wrap the sass.

"Brat, I was still talking to you, don't ignore me or I will be sure you will never get the smell of shit out of your nose." Levi grumbled and Jean straightened up. "Forgive me, corporal." Jean stammered and glared at himself. 'idiot.' He snapped in his head. "What do you think is wrong with her?" Jean asked and Levi raised a single brow. "I believe I already know, but I want to see what you think. That would be the reason I had asked you first, Dumbass. Tch." He complained and Jean repressed an irritated look towards his superior.

"What do you want to know?" he asked, the irritation in his voice not looked over by Levi in the slightest. "Am I pissing you off? Seems like I have asked the wrong person about the welfare of my sister then, haven't I? Should I instead ask the German brat built like a fucking titan? The one that won't leave my sister's side? I thought you were one I could get a truthful answer out of that would keep the disgusting comments out of the answer." he snapped and Jean glared at him. "I would prefer that Reiner stay a great distance from her. Anyways, what specifically would you like to know?" he asked and a smirk twitched at Levi's lips.

"Good, someone who agrees with me on the fact the german brat needs to stay away from her. Anyways... I want to know of any particular events that have occurred that seem… abnormal in Evelyn's case." He said and Jean nodded, completely fighting the urge to voice his thoughts on how Reiner could just sit on Levi and the argument would be over. "I can give you a few already. She seemed determined to be the one fighting titans, normally she would avoid them… or so I thought… never mind…" he sighed, remembering how she attacked every titan that she could get to when they had invaded Trost.

He sighed and rubbed his cheek in his irritation. "She tends to go in a titan attack rage when someone she knew gets hurt… or they die. Believe me here, I'm not trying to be rude or anything… but Evelyn isn't always the brightest. She doesn't think things through, she possibly could have made it into top ten due to her Omni directional skill and maneuverability skills alone. Her intelligence may lack a bit, but she still cares. Too much if you ask me…" he sighed and Levi raised a brow. A chill ran down Jean's spine. Had he said something out of line? Well… too much out of line? He was only telling the truth.

"She obviously cares too much about you. I don't like it, anyways. I was still wondering exactly what made her intelligence lacking, in your opinion?" he asked, the sharp look not leaving his eyes. Jean blinked and opened his mouth to speak, but that chill crept back up his spine. He needed to word his explanations more carefully he guessed. "Uh… in the area where she loses it if someone gets hurt. She tried to pass her tanks on to me and Marco, but we still had fuel. She wanted us to take it and leave, but we refused and she just jumped off the roof. It seems her favorite thing is being titan bait, its as if she thinks she is invincible when it comes to the titans. She is a fool." Jean grumbled and Levi scoffed loudly.

"Evelyn is a true Guardian. She is not as much a fool as I had thought, except for the fact she uses herself as bait." Levi sighed and Jean looked at him oddly. "She talks to her fucking horse…" Jean objected and a smirk crossed Levi's lips. "I know she talks to you, what does it matter?" he said and Jean deadpanned. "She told me in detail about the horse jokes. I think it is mildly humorous, but… then again Hanji is a real nutcase, so jokes on you are nothing within the scout legion. As I have told her, Hanji herself is a unique variant." Levi said before he grabbed his crutches and stood leaving his green cloak on the chair behind him. Jean had completely forgotten about the fact Levi had broken his ankle when fighting the female titan.

"Come then… let's take a walk and visit Evelyn and see how she is doing today, I'm surprised she managed to make it as long as she had without passing out from exhaustion." He sighed as he adjusted the damnable crutches under his arms and Jean stood and followed him quickly. They walked into the infirmary to see the nurses surrounding Evelyn as she slept, curious looks adorning their faces. "What is it?" Levi demanded and they jumped slightly. "Um… sir… she has already healed from the nasty head wound she had received… there is no trace of it what so ever." The head nurse said and Levi's eyes narrowed.

"Don't you think you could have just mistaken it for a clump of dried blood? She had fallen into the blood of her comrades while she had been attempting to escape a titan, she was down for a while." Levi said and Jean watched him carefully, there was a twitch in his left cheek and what appeared to be a slightly nervous swallow? Was he lying? He opened his mouth to speak and Levi's eyes flashed at him and he kept silent.

The nurses mumbled amongst themselves before Levi sighed. "You fucking idiots. Do you not know how to do your damn jobs? No one did a fucking preliminary once over on her? Fucking imbeciles." He groaned and they scrambled to leave the room. Levi shook his head and turned to glare at Reiner who was giving him the same look Jean was. They knew he was hiding something for sure now. "You both need to mind your own business. It is not for her sake, but for your own." He snapped and Reiner furrowed his brow. "What the hell! She is my friend, you can't just tell me I can't talk to her, I don't care if you are her brother! Her and I have gone through hell and back and we have been there for each other, despite us always fighting and acting like morons towards each other! You can't just threaten me like that!" Jean said and Levi made a noise of annoyance.

"You know… I just had this conversation with Evelyn before we left the walls. I will give you two a similar answer as I gave her." Levi said and the two cadets exchanged glances. "Evelyn and I are different from you and the rest of the legion, anyone who tends to get too close, dies. Such as my previous squad, and… that one cadet she cared dearly for, Marco and her own recruit squad." Levi said and Jean's glared refocused on the floor.

"She is different from me as well, and as such… I'm more preoccupied with your safety, than hers. My sister can handle herself, to an extent. Precisely why I am trying to look out for you assholes. But you two don't seem to see it as me trying to keep your sorry ass alive, instead, Evelyn thinks I'm being an ass and no doubt you think the same thing. If I hear it vocalized, the horse stalls need cleaning again Jean. And Reiner, someone has to clean the men's restroom." Levi said as the two of them exchanged glances once more.

"How is she a danger to us, sir?" Reiner asked and Levi resisted the smirk, now the German kid was going to attempt politeness. "She has done things in her past that she doesn't even remember, so I'm just going to leave it at that. No further questions, because if she ever learns of it she would most likely either attempt to end her life, or become even more reckless than she already is." Levi said and the two nodded.

Evelyn began to stir and they all turned to her to see if she was alright, she appeared to be having a nightmare of some sort, but no one could wake her. She jolted up a few minutes later, breathing heavily sweat pouring over her forehead and her fingers were trembling. "Evelyn, what is it? what did you see?" Levi asked and she looked up at him with wide eyes. "I… I saw it… I had always known what it had looked like… but at the same time… I had never known…" she sobbed and Levi furrowed his brows.

"Seen what?" Jean asked and Evelyn looked up at him from under her bangs. "The titan… the one who killed mother and father." She said and Levi's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What did it look like, Eve?" Jean asked and Reiner listened intently. Levi just watched the three. "It… was shorter than the female titan… but… it had glowing eyes… they were solid white, no pupils, nothing. It had black hair, and had skin all over its body, unlike the female titan." Evelyn said and Levi narrowed his eyes.

"What… what had surprised me the most was she didn't have fingers. She had claws, and she walked with a predatory stance, unlike the female titan and her fighting stance. She reminded me of a wolf, Levi. A human wolf. She had a human face, until she opened her mouth, then it was a bit like Eren's titan's but it was different. There were sharp teeth all the way back, but the skin covered them when the mouth was shut." Evelyn said, her hands still trembling.

"That titan, Evelyn, was one of the first unique variants I had ever seen." Levi sighed and Evelyn looked up at him. "Why didn't you kill it?" she asked and he frowned as he sat in a chair by her bed. "Because that titan has a unique talent you see, those claws can slice right through our blades like our blades slice through skin. Someone was ballsy enough to confront it, at night might I add, and it sliced right through trees. It didn't kill him, but it sliced through trees in a manner of trying to induce fear." Levi said and Evelyn furrowed her brows.

"What do you mean?" she asked and he cocked his head to the side and sighed. "The sun had been down for nearly ten hours, it is by far the only one who doesn't lose energy at night. They call it the-" Levi had begun and Reiner interrupted. "The night stalker, right?" he asked and Levi nodded. "It is supposedly blind, being as it is always sniffing when someone would approach. "If you ever see that titan, I would recommend running for your pitiful life if you attack it." Levi scoffed and Reiner snorted. "Why would that be?" he asked, Jean and Evelyn looked over to Levi in wonder as well.

"If you attack that titan… it will kill you. Just ask Shadish next time you see him, his brother attacked it." Levi said and Evelyn frowned. "Why didn't he run? He could have run." She said and Levi nodded. "The fact is, he did run. But there is no possible way to out run that particular titan..." He said simply and her eyes went wide. "So… the fact I escaped it alive… was just coincidence?" she asked and he frowned. "There is no way to tell, the creature just didn't eat you." He said as he stood, grabbed his crutches, and walked away. The three within the room had looks of utter disgust mixed with fear on their faces, it was hopeless to kill them all if that titan existed…


	5. Chapter 5

*CONTAINS MANGA SPOILERS!* I will give warning as to when the spoilers start, in case you would like to read the manga first…

I don't own attack on titan. Haha, was going to go to bed when I started this, but then the ideas kept flowing and you know how it is when you're trying to sleep and all those awesome ideas appear and then are gone by the time you wake up, so I had to write or else forget them. This chapter may make it to 11,000 words like the first one did! Let's hope for the best!

Evelyn watched Reiner as he circled her, her eyes narrowed at his predatory movements. "What exactly is it about me that interests you so much?" she asked and he shrugged as he fisted his open hands signaling he was about to make the first move. Her eyes darted to the area beside her, where Bertholt stood in a similar offensive position to Reiner. "We aren't really sure…" Bertholt said softly, obviously trying to repress the urge to rub the back of his neck nervously.

"You're the one who really interests me, Bertholt. Reiner has ulterior motives when he wants to spar. You rarely want to spar with me, so I'm curious…" she said and he looked surprised, but then a flicker of sadness took over his eyes. Her brows furrowed, noticing what seemed like regret following the sadness. "Bertholt… are you alright?" Evelyn asked and he nodded swiftly in surprise as Reiner lunged and Evelyn tucked her arms in and rolled out of the way of his punch.

She rolled to her feet and swatted Bertholt's fist away and grit her teeth as Reiner aimed a punch at her side, which she deftly spun out of the way of. "I'm surprised either of you can think you can catch me, one of you is freaking tall and the other an empty headed burly fool." Evelyn snickered, the smirk vanished from her lips as Bertholt swept her feet out from under her and her eyes squeezed shut as she hit the ground on her back. She repressed a whimper when her head hit the ground.

"I win." He said, his voice held a bit more confidence which made her lips twitch. She stared up at him, he had her arms pinned over her head and was pretty much straddling… well, more like nearly sitting on her, there wasn't much of a difference when it came to the much taller male. "Since when?" she asked and head butted him. He yelped and reached for his forehead, releasing her arms and she managed to pull her legs up and kick him off of her. She rolled backwards tucking her head under her arms, and the moment her feet touched the ground Reiner was hot on her tail.

He punched at her and as soon as she grabbed his fist, she felt a chill go down her spine. As a matter of fact, she knew the other two felt it too. Her eyes drifted over to where the chill was coming from, and a sheepish smile crossed her lips as she sent Reiner's fist right up into his face. He let out a string of curses as he rubbed his face where his fist had hit. Her lips twitched as she saw the glare Levi was giving Bertholt.

It was one of those 'you are filthy' glares, the ones where there is nothing but annoyance and disgust in it. Similar to the one he liked to give the commander at times when the commander decided he didn't have to be mature all the time, but different all the same. This glare was actually more focused on the poor tall kid. Her eyes drifted towards the completely serious commander beside Levi. Her brows furrowed and she walked forwards, ignoring Bertholt and his abnormal fearful sweating patterns and also ignoring Reiner; who was still cursing up a storm.

"Commander, brother…" she greeted and the two behind her attempted to straighten up. "You have an assignment with squad leader Nanaba and Mike of Hanji's squad." Erwin said and Evelyn nodded. "Is anyone else attending this?" she asked and he shook his head. "You're going outside the wall, to test that theory of Levi's. I'm sure he explained to you what your father wanted you to do." Erwin said and even nodded, breaking eye contact and glaring at the ground.

"Find the old house and find that stupid journal of his." She muttered and Erwin nodded. "As I said, I have no idea what finding the journal will do… maybe it will help reveal the truth, similar to the basement in Eren's old home." Levi said and Erwin nodded. Evelyn glared at them. "Why the angry look for?" Erwin asked and she clicked her tongue. "I don't want to know what makes me so dangerous. Levi knows. Ask him, he won't tell me." she snapped and Erwin frowned.

"We need you to know. It is important that you know, it may not make you very happy to be forced into this but we need you to know." Erwin said and her glare intensified. "I don't want to know! I don't want to know what I've done! I heard you and Levi talk! I… I don't want to know! I don't want to know what a horrible person I am." She yelled and Levi slammed his forehead into hers. "Damn it! it's not what you think! You need to know! You didn't kill anyone for heaven's sake!" he yelled and her eyes softened. "I… I didn't?" she asked and he shook his head. "Not you. But you need to figure out what did, and in that house you will find the answer. And you will also figure out how to stop it from killing anything else." Erwin said and she looked at the ground and nodded.

Levi turned on his crutches, Evelyn and Erwin following suit. "Oh…" Levi began as an afterthought. "Cadet… Fubar was it?" Levi said and Bertholt froze in slight fear, although the man was smaller than he was, Bertholt had seen what he did to titans, he had also seen what he did to people he supposedly liked, he didn't want to know what he did to a person he didn't like. "Don't touch Evelyn like that again. It may not end well for you the next time you do." He said and Reiner saw his friend pale. "Levi… you want me to break your other ankle?" she asked and he scowled at her.

"I will not have random men touching you like that." He scowled at her and she rolled her eyes. "You are over protective, go clean something." She sighed and he hit her with one of his crutches. "Don't make me take them away from you. Because I will, and I will laugh as you hobble around. There is no use running from you at the moment because you can't move very fast." She said and he scowled at her once more. "They are my friends, it's not like they would ever do anything bad." She said with a shake of the head.

Reiner and Bertholt exchanged looks, but kept silent, not wanting to get caught up in the siblings argument, fearing that if they did get involved... the men's restroom may need a work over. No one liked cleaning the men's restrooms, nor did they like cleaning the showers… guys tend to get dirtier than women when it came to the work Levi made them do. Everyone hated being the one on shower clean up.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Jean sighed as he glared at Eren. "Why is it me who has to pose as you?" he griped and Eren scowled at him. "You think I'm happy about it? I don't even look like you. Who would want to look like a stupid horse anyways?" Eren griped back at him and Jean just scoffed. "Quit complaining, at least you guys get to go to the capital." Evelyn interjected herself into the conversation, surprising the group in the room. "Eve, I thought you were headed out with Mike and Nanaba." Jean said and Evelyn nodded. "Hopefully you guys will be back soon, or else I may have to go spar with Reiner and Bertholt again." She sighed and Jean gave her a dirty look.

"What, you never spar with me." she laughed and he shook his head. "Yeah, cause I'm not a suicidal moron, like Reiner." He said and she smiled. "Punk, you're just scared shitless." Levi commented with a scowl. Evelyn rolled her eyes, obviously Mr. clean freak was still in a sour mood. "Mr. sour puss, liven up." She snipped and he let out sarcastic laughter. "When I get back, I will be sure to put a boot in your ass for whatever witty comment you decide to make." He said and she smiled.

"There's the sassy Levi I know, there we go!" she laughed and Jean shook his head. She grabbed him by his cheeks and leaned over to glare him in the eyes. "Don't be stupid. Don't get all caught up with them pansy fuckers in the capital. And don't… and I mean don't, what so ever, decide to blow your cover, for any reason. Unless I'm dying. Then you can blow your cover." She said and he attempted to scowl at her but the fact she was squishing his cheeks made it hard.

"I understand Marco didn't mind it when you did this, but it annoys the hell out of me." he said from between awkwardly squished lips. "Fishy face, I suggest you deal with it. You got nominated as my best friend, so you have to deal with me." she said with a smile and shook his face with the hand holding his mouth before she let go and shoved his chair back towards the table. "Either you are extremely bipolar, or someone is feeling much better…" Hanji said and Evelyn rubbed her neck lightly.

"Yeah… I guess I'm a bit better. I had a week in an infirmary bed to decide that being a reckless mope about wasn't for the best concerning my health. I made a decision, and I'm going to do my job the way it needs to be done instead of how I had been doing it." Evelyn said and waved as she left. Jean rolled his eyes and Hanji gushed. "You two are so cute together!" she squealed and he glared at her. "Not my girlfriend." He mumbled and Mikasa shook her head. "If it got you to stop following me like a creep, I think it would do you some good." She said nonchalantly, examining her pristine nails.

Eren snorted and Jean glared at him. "This conversation ends… as of now." Levi said simply and Jean sighed in relief. They finished going over the plan and they all stood and made their way out to the escorts that were provided by the garrison unit. Jean sat and glared at the dark colored wig the entire way there. He hated this, more so he hated Eren. How he despised the darker haired male, the short little midget got on his nerves as well; always trying to tell him keep his distance from Evelyn.

He vaguely wondered what was so important that Evelyn wasn't going with them. He was admittedly uncomfortable with the fact that the only ones who could know the details of her assignment were her group, Levi and the commander. Did they not trust the rest of them? Was it something that secretive? What exactly did it have to do with Evelyn? He mildly wondered why Reiner and Bertholt were not accompanying them on their assignment in the capital. Lots of things made him wonder, and those things made his head hurt all the same.

He sighed and rubbed his temples. This whole thing drove him nuts. He glared at the people in the carriage with him, they watched every move he made. Just like a hawk eyeing its next meal. His lip curled up in a sneer. "Stupid carriage." He grumbled and the two in front of him raised their brows in mild amusement. "What? Hate the dark?" they asked and he scowled at them. "No, quite frankly, I love the dark. Gives me liberty to punch retards in the face without anyone seeing." He grumbled and the two men in front of him scowled.

"Fucking brat, acting like you are special or something." The man to the left side grumbled. Jean only offered him a wicked smirk. "Sure, I can be special, more special than your girlfriend already thinks I am." He said with a shrug. The man glared at him, but a knock to the side of the carriage signaled they were almost there. He sighed and folded his arms behind his head. This was going to be a boring ride, even if they were almost there, and he had been annoyingly tapping his feet on whatever would make noise. He had at one point been thumping the back of his head against the wall of the carriage, but saw that the two in front of him were getting extremely pissed off at him, he stopped and found another way to annoy the pansy buggers.

When the carriage finally stopped he was eager to get out, it annoyed the hell out of him having to just sit there. After about thirty minutes he felt a rumble and then a yell. "Hmph." He shoved his way out of the carriage. "Commander, I'm going to get my gear." He said and tossed the damnable wig off to the side. Erwin nodded and he took off running. He gathered his things and began putting his gear on. when everything was secured down tight and he was comfortable, he shot off his navigational wires, a group of scouts following close behind him.

"Man… the Military police sure are lazy…" he commented slightly disgusted. "What the hell am I saying… I was going to be one of them… guess I better be a bit grateful I'm not." He sighed and landed on a rooftop, only to see Armin talking to Eren, who was pinned under a bunch of rubble. He jumped down there and barely had time to speak before the female titan, now known as Annie sent more rubble towards them.

He and Armin jumped away and a few minutes later the same pile of rubble exploded and Eren rose from it. Mikasa followed after him as he chased Annie. Jean and Armin followed as well. Jean looked around and saw all the freaked out Military police. He shook his head and watched as the two titans fought. Annie looked as if she were going to win. She had removed both and arm and a leg from Eren's titan and he didn't appear to be about to get back up.

Well… he thought Eren wasn't going to get back up… that was a bit of a surprise…

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Evelyn sighed and dropped her head to connect with Sparta's larger one. He snorted and she smiled as she rubbed his neck. Nanaba and Mike watched her oddly. "You really are weird." Nanaba stated and she shrugged. "My horse is my best friend, other than Jean; but still he might just be smarter than Jean." She sighed and Mike snorted and shook his head. "That kid smells weird." He said and she deadpanned at him. "I happen to like the way he smells, thank you very much. He smells like… well water… and trees. It's actually comforting." She huffed and rolled her eyes. "Besides, if you didn't sniff everyone and everything, you would have to say he smells weird." She countered and he jerked his head to the side slightly in a 'meh' response.

"I'm curious… why aren't there any titans around?" Evelyn asked and Mike shrugged. "Not a clue, I guess it is just because it's getting close to dark." Nanaba stated and Evelyn looked around with narrowed eyes. She jumped in surprise and Sparta jolted as well as she shook her head as if to clear it. "What is it, Evelyn?" Mike asked and she repressed a disturbed shiver. "I could have sworn I saw myself… but it was just a flicker. I don't know what it was but it was disturbing. Let's hurry and get to that stupid old cabin." She said and rubbed her temples in irritation.

"Evelyn… what cabin? There never was an old cabin…" Nanaba said and she blinked in surprise. "Yes there was… I remember it. Father called it the hunting cabin, mother never went there for some reason, but dad and I we went there a lot. There was a doctor that would join us every now and again… dad would trade beef jerky and things of the sort for medicines." she said and Nanaba nodded. "Then if the journal isn't at your old house, we should check there then." He said and she nodded.

Sparta became uneasy the closer they got to what Nanaba had told her Levi said her old home was. She patted him on the neck, but he didn't seem to calm down any. They hopped of their horses at the sight of an old pale blue house with a white porch. It would have been a pleasant little home, had it not been succumbing to ruin, due to a combination of the weather and age. Evelyn pushed open the old screen door gently, as if fearful someone would still be living there.

The floorboards creaked under her gentle steps and she tentatively looked around the place, like it was new to her. "So you really don't remember this place?" Mike asked and she shook her head. An old dusty photo hung haphazardly on the wall and she reached up and ran her thumb over the glass, attempting to rid it of the filth that had built up over the years. Her face was the first one she saw, then… Levi's he stared at her out of the corner of his eyes, a small smile on his lips. Her father stood behind Levi, his hands on Levi's shoulders. Both her father and Levi were about the same height, so she supposed Levi was about sixteen, if not a little older, in the photo. She looked to be about seven or eight.

Flickers of something flashed in her mind, but she couldn't quite grasp the main parts of whatever it was. Her thumbs wiped over the photo to reveal their parent's faces. Her father had a small smile, but the glimmer of deceit in his eyes shocked her. Her mother held a fear in her eyes. Evelyn furrowed her brows. The second thing she noticed was that it appeared her mother didn't want to touch her, as her hands hovered over her shoulders, curled slightly as if in fear.

"What could make you fear me so badly… mother…" Evelyn whispered, her eyes stinging slightly. Mike placed his hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at him. "Is something the matter?" she asked and he shook his head. "Just checking to make sure you're alright… you may be learning some very nerve wracking things tonight…" he said and Evelyn nodded. "I did just learn something…" she sighed and showed him the picture. His brows furrowed.

"Your dad looks evil and your mother looks scared… what the hell for I wonder…" he mumbled and Evelyn shrugged. "I don't know, maybe this stupid journal of dad's we are supposed to find will tell us something about what he was doing." She sighed and Nanaba walked out with a locked box and a closed letter. "Here. I haven't read it since it belongs to you." He said and she nodded. Her thumb flicked open the letter and her eyes scanned over the words written sloppily across the old paper.

Hah! Eve! I've done it! You may not have known what I was attempting to do, and I had preferred it that way. I'm not going to tell you exactly what it is here, because I know someone else will find this long before you do. And prying eyes get ignorant people hurt, or you know… dead. ANYWAYS! You may hate me for what I have done at first, but I have made you very valuable. As I said can't say how, but you are. You and your brother both! Amazing, you two… both of you had amazing abilities from birth. Oh! Don't worry It's nothing too serious. Just a little needed problem solving and it's all perfect. All I have left to say is… well… pretty simple. Kill your fears, don't let anyone control you. And channel that anger in you, it's your greatest weapon my dear! Simple as that. Oh…There is a small lock box somewhere around the house… Burn it… if you know what is good for your health, not a threat my dear… just a friendly proposition if you wish to continue breathing within the walls.

Oh… and… Tell your brother I said keep an eye on you.

Nicolai Rivaille A…r…an

Evelyn folded the note up and furrowed her brows at the box within Nanaba's hands. "Father says that box is filled with pictures of him and mother, nothing you really want to see… nor do I wish to see." Evelyn said and a disgusted look crossed his face, while Mike snorted. Evelyn took the box from his grasp and walked out of the room. "Let's continue searching, father said that somewhere there was information I needed to know." She called out from another room and the two men made grunts signaling they heard.

Evelyn silently cracked the box open and lifted the lid. She looked through the items within and her brow furrowed. A decorative key hung from a chain in the box. She grabbed it and draped it over her neck. She fumbled through the pictures and her eyes went wide, they were all pictures of her and the night stalker titan, none in the same picture of course… except one… the titan was in what appeared to be a huge testing tube in a basement somewhere and it was about the size of a child.

A child her, to be exact. Her small five year old hand was against the glass and the titan had its sharp claws against the glass where her fingers were. She shoved this picture in her pocket and did the same with the note from her father. She ripped up the other photos of the night stalker titan and any that connected her to it. She crammed the scraps of paper into a hole in the wall. She turned to see Mike walk past the doorway. "Hey Mike… anything yet?" she called and he 'hmph'd'. Apparently not….

"Maybe we should go check that cabin, Evelyn…" Mike offered and Nanaba nodded in agreement as he descended the stairs. They all walked out and headed for their horses. "So Evelyn, what were you looking at in there so hard?" Mike asked and Evelyn's cheek twitched. "It was a picture of me when I was little." she said simply, it wasn't actually lying. "How did your dad ever afford a camera anyways? They were expensive when I was a kid." Mike pondered out loud and Evelyn shrugged.

"I heard rumors that he had worked for the king, so I'm not really sure. I guess the rumors may actually have some truth to them." She said and he grunted in acknowledgement. "The old cabin was about thirty minutes away when we walked, so I'm guessing we should get there in about ten to fifteen minutes at the max." Evelyn said and they nodded. They entered a cluster of tall trees and Sparta was getting even more antsy by the moment.

They rode upon the cabin, but a small group of titans of about four to six meters surrounded it; as if given the order to protect it. Nanaba and Mike fell back into the shadows, but the titans had already spotted Evelyn. Her eyes flickered from her teammates, to the titans closing in on her. They motioned for her to make a run for the cabin and she nodded. Sparta was unusually panicked and wouldn't go near the titans. She should have listened to what her gut was telling her, but as usual she was defiant. She jumped from Sparta's back and made a break for the door to the cabin, narrowly missing grabby hands.

She hit the ground and kicked the door shut behind her. She forced herself up and began rushing all around the small cabin, trying to find the stupid journal. "Is this stupid thing really worth dying over?" she bit out angrily as she tossed open the pantry and threw all the obviously spoiled and empty boxes of food out of the way. It was all empty and pretty much dust anyways, so what did she care? She tossed everything else out and huffed as there was nothing left there. dust fell from the ceiling as the titans began pulling pieces of the roof off of the cabin.

The cabin wouldn't stand for very much longer; that much she knew so she had to search fast. She tossed every drawer out and looked all over the cabin, except the cellar. She turned swiftly on her toes and ran over to where the cellar was. She ripped up the door to the cellar and dropped down and began tossing things about. Her fingers brushed over something and she yanked it from the edge of the corner floorboard. Evelyn rushed to secure the book in her boot and make it up out of the cellar at the same time.

The moment she swung the front door open, there were titan skeletons all over the place and horrified men standing out in the middle of the plain area. She slowly walked out of the cabin and when she got to where Nanaba and Mike were, she turned around to look at the roof of the house. Deep gashes in the roof were clean cut and sent chills down her spine. The claws looked like crystals as they tapped against the rooftop, creating a sickeningly taunting rhythm. Ebony locks fell around glowing white eyes and the pupil-less white eyes seemed directed right at her.

Curved pink lips twitched in a similar manner to that of when Evelyn smirked. Those lips parted and let out a breathy whisper that sounded oddly like it was trying to speak. The titan cocked its head to the side as she sniffed and made what appeared to be a series of delighted murmurs. The titan continued to click its claws against the rooftop in that same taunting manner, as if saying… you can't kill me. As if it were taunting them for their cowardice, you can't kill me not just because you won't… but also because you know you would die.

The delighted murmurs threw off the whole, taunting clicks of claws against what sounded like hollow wood. The murmurs came out more like chilling words now, actually forming real words.

"Eve… has… the book." That was what the titan had breathed at them before she faded back into the darkness. "Eve will know." carried on the wind as the titan vanished from view, titan's claws scraping along the rooftop as she faded from sight. Evelyn's eyes rolled up and she hit the ground face first. Mike and Nanaba dropped from their horses to help get Evelyn back on Sparta's back. Her forehead was burning up and her breathing was ragged as if she were scared.

"Let's go! We have to hurry back." Nanaba yelled and Mike nodded, yanking the reins of his horse roughly forcing his horse to take off running. He grabbed Sparta's reins and the burly horse was making what appeared to be worried noises as he nudged behind him at Evelyn, who lay limply against his back. Mike took one last look behind them at the small gathering of trees and a chill fell down his spine, those white eyes glowed from the edge of the forest.

The titan was still watching them. Everything he had been told about the night stalker titan… it was all false. The titan didn't have one aspect of a wolf about it, nor was it one to attack humans to induce fear. The claws and white eyes, now those rumors were true. The titan was in every way smaller than the female titan. That titan looked to be about as the size of a twelve meter titan, if not a little smaller than one. The titan was in no way 'normal' looking either. It didn't look like the normal naked human-ish titans, but at the same time it didn't look like the other skinless titans either.

The patches of hardened skin were noticeable even in the darkness, making it seem like it had strategically placed armor; but nothing was more noticeable than those claws. They shined brighter than a diamond on the crown of the king. Those claws reflected the moon's light like glass, but the rugged sharpness they held was enough for anyone with knowledge to realize that their life was in danger. His eyes flickered over to Sparta and Evelyn, could that titan had been the reason Sparta was so antsy?

They still had a long way to go before they were safe with wall rose… his eyes drifted behind him where Evelyn's old home faded from sight completely. The moment they were in sight of the gates, the men began opening them. They rushed into the walls, hearing whispers of astonishment. 'They went outside the walls and they all returned?' 'What's wrong with the girl? Is she dead?' the questions and murmurs echoed around them despite how late… well early it was. The sun would be coming up soon… "Mike, go make a report to Levi and commander Erwin, take Evelyn with you when she wakes. I will try to keep things calm here at the headquarters." Nanaba said and Mike nodded.

Mike took Evelyn back to the infirmary, which seemed like her best friend as of late. He pulled her from Sparta's back and carried her bridal style towards the infirmary. Her breathing had evened out some, and he couldn't feel her rapidly beating heart pounding within her chest. He set her in her designated bed, which had actually become hers from the sheer amount of time she visited it. Designated hers, meaning they had actually put a name tag over her bed.

"What happened this time." Tina, the head nurse sighed with a deepening frown. "She fainted. I would have too had I been so close to the night stalker." Mike sighed and Tina's eyes went wide. "Why would you let her get that close to it!" Tina snapped and the door creaked open and the blonde woman froze, her jaw unhinged slightly in fear and her fingers twitching lightly. "Mike… Tina… Why must you two be so noisy?" an irritated male voice sighed from a rolling chair. "Head physician, F-frank!" she squealed and he looked at her with dull green eyes.

He pushed himself out of his small office, not removing himself from his rolling chair, not even for a moment. Silver, almost white hair fell into his eyes and he yawned as heplaced his glasses back on the bridge of his nose. "What is wrong now?" he sighed propping his head on his fist, which was propped on his knee. "Evelyn passed out after seeing the night stalker! This buffoon allowed her to actually get close enough to it to scare her!" Tina growled and Mike made the all too familiar 'Tch' noise and turned away.

"She ran into the cabin on her own, but there was nothing we could do. If you hadn't noticed that titan is dangerous, that is… if you count the fact we didn't even know it was there in the first place." Mike countered and Tina glared at him. "Shut up, no more arguing. You already interrupted my daily nap. Now… what exactly happened?" Frank asked and Mike smirked at a still glaring Tina. "The titan spoke. It was talking about Evelyn. It called her Eve, which confused us because only a few people can call her that without getting attacked by her or Levi. Anyways… it spoke more directed towards her but it actually talked. That titan was creepy man…" Mike sighed, scratching the back of his neck. The two before him ignored the fact that he had gone in circles with his speech and had still managed to avoid the question that had been asked.

"How so?" Frank asked and Mike shuddered a bit. "It was small… But the feeling of… hell I don't know… it was just as fearsome as the colossal titan, without being as big. Those eyes felt as if they would steal the life out of you just by it staring… not to mention the claws. Those claws looked just as scary as they had been described. The titan knew how to make you fear them too, the entire time Evelyn was inside the cabin, it was cutting down the titans that came close. And the moment Evelyn walked out, the only thing you heard was the wicked tapping sound of those claws against the old wood of the roof." Mike said and Evelyn made a distressed noise.

She jolted up and began digging at the side of her boot, only to pull her father's journal out of the boot. She flipped it to the first page and began reading. Her eyes scanned the pages, and with each sentence she read, shock filled her being.

Age seven: Evelyn has made her first contact with the titan Eve. She didn't seem to be fearful in the slightest. Makes me wonder just how strong Evelyn will grow to be mentally….. {the words begin to get blurred and rubbed away with time for about a paragraph.} If she can realize that she needs to…{words have also been distorted with time here}… then maybe she can help save humanity before it's too late. We never wanted to force anything upon her, but if that's what it takes, humanity may have a chance.

Age Ten: there is nothing we can do anymore. Titan Eve has become rebellious. We have to put titan Eve down. There is nothing left… no hope…

Two weeks after the attempt to destroy titan Eve: Evelyn set the titan free! Now we really have no hope! None! If Evelyn can't channel her emotions and c..t…o… ti…n Eve, the… there is nothing left. She has to be able to c…t… titan Eve! If no one can c…{words have appeared to have faded, leaving certain letters still intelligible, but the words as a whole are unable to be read.}…it one, humanity may have just lost the entire battle!

Two days after last entry… this is it… Evelyn became angered and took off in a fit of rage… the titan is outside… titan Eve has come to end us for what we have done… we created this beast… we made it so we could attempt to restore the human's reign on this earth… but… Evelyn took all of our work and threw it back at us… it's as if she spit in the face of humanity… she released titan Eve, and now… the titan has returned for us… forgive me… Evelyn… I don't truly blame you… but you have unleashed a monster… and it is up to you to stop it now… forgive us… for being horrible parents….

The entry didn't end there, but it was the final lines of the last passage that had her clutching her chest and fearing for the worst. "W-why would you do that… why would you make something like that?!" she sobbed and Mike took the book and read over what she had read. "My God… what kind of…" He managed before looking over at the sobbing girl. He placed his hand on the top of her head in a comforting manner. "This isn't your fault. But… you can stop the night stalker… or well… titan Eve." He said and she looked up at him. "How am I supposed to stop her, I don't even know what to do!" she sobbed and Mike nodded, that same smirk on his lips that always lingered.

"You have to get angry." He said and she jerked her head up to look at him. "You have to, isn't that what Levi said? You appear to have better control of your focus when you are angry, if you hadn't noticed… I think that when you are angry, you tend to focus more on the object of your anger, which is usually what the mission objective is about. If you think more on it, you will realize that it's true. I think that if you get angry and focus that anger on titan Eve, I think… no. I know you can stop her."

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Hanji stared at the younger woman who rode ahead of her. How could something so awful be done to such an innocent young woman? The things people do… sometimes it just makes you sick. Evelyn reached the gates to the capital first and continued through. Hanji had thought it better to bring the horses along since they were faster than running. Sparta seemed overjoyed to be moving around, even if it were from one wall to another.

Evelyn seemed distressed, in the least, from what she had told Hanji. Hanji didn't blame the girl, that would be extremely hard to handle if you had never known anything about it, much less if she had never had an inkling of an idea of what her father had been doing. Evelyn slowed to a stop and her saddned eyes flickered back at Hanji, who smiled at her. "Evelyn, I know it's hard… but he gave you a chance in this world of death." Hanji said and Evelyn offered a small smiled.

"But… what if… what if Jean doesn't see it that way? What if he starts to hate me?" she asks and Hanji frowned. "I doubt the boy will ever hate you. I don't think his feelings will change… I…" Hanji began but a saddened sigh escaped her lips. "Evelyn… I met Marco once." She said and Evelyn looked back at her with a sad smile. " I know Hanji, You gave me my gloves. And I thank you." She said and Hanji huffed. She dropped from her horse and walked over to Evelyn.

She grabbed the girl by the cheeks and smiled. "I liked the kid, he would have made a fantastic squad leader one day. He was a good kid, I would have been able to talk to the kid for hours on end. An intelligent mind like that was bound to know there was something wrong with you, just by how you act. You may not realize you act funny, but you do. People see that you are different. They see that you are fearless, they see that you would willingly use yourself as bait. And they know… you are different, but you are trying to save us all. Don't fret it, Evelyn… I believe Marco would be giving you this exact same conversation if he were still here." Hanji said and Evelyn looked back at the older woman in curiosity.

"No doubt… he would be. He always knew there was a reason everyone was fighting so hard to keep me alive. Notice, I still have four canisters instead of two. They believe in me, so they give me things that may help me survive better. It may just be me overthinking things… but… does humanity really rely on me and Levi that much?" she asked and rapid footfalls echoed in the background. One man broke off from the group and grabbed Evelyn by the shoulder.

*MANGA SPOILERS START HERE!*

She turned to face him and he was panicked, panting, and completely out of breath. "What is it?" she asked and he looked up at her, searching for her patch. He patted the patch on her chest and began stammering. "S-scout regiment, right?" the civilian man asked and she nodded. "Yes. Is something wrong?" she asked and he nodded frantically. "Titans. Titans within wall rose." Ha managed and her eyes went wide. "Please help us." He begged and she wasted no time pulling herself away from the man and tossing her legs back over Sparta's saddle.

"Hanji, tell commander Erwin what I told you! Get a group together we have to see what happened!" Evelyn said and the man called out to her. "We have already sent someone to inform your commander!" he yelled and Evelyn nodded, stopping only for Sparta to rear up then jolt into a gallop. Shivers of fear fell down her spine and Sparta huffed, as if telling her calm down. But there was nothing that could actually get her to calm down at the moment.

The wall is breached. It's happening all over again! Jean… hopefully he was still within wall Sina. Evelyn dodged people rushing into wall sina. The group in the gate moved out of the way with murmurs of 'The scouts are already going to go try to save us!' and 'Get em scout!' Evelyn tried her hardest not to be rude, seeing as though the majority of them were telling the commander he was a joke and all he was doing was feeding the titans; not even a week ago.

She grit her teeth but passed by them in a hurry. She only had the basics of her gear with her, the blades and gas. She wore a simple blue sleeveless shirt beneath her upper harness, her jacket and green cloak had been forgotten back in the headquarters. "Faster Sparta, now is no time to be messing around!" Evelyn yelled and the horse complied, not giving her any trouble for once. His feet hit the cobblestone path and echoed off the walls of the buildings.

She listened as his footfalls rang out louder, rang out faster. A group of scouts on horseback followed behind her. "We have to figure this out! Squad leader Evelyn! Your orders!" the blonde in the front of the small formation called out and her eyes went wide in surprise. "S-squad leader?" she stammered and he gave her a look that told her he was counting on her. The group behind her… had dubbed her their squad leader…

Her eyes narrowed and she took a deep breath. "Scout out the wall closest where the titans were spotted! Avoid them at all costs, unless you are one hundred percent sure you can take the titan out, do not, I repeat, do not engage!" she yelled and a series of "Yes sir, scout leader, sir!" echoed behind her. "Disband and scour the wall!" she said as they approached one titan. A fourteen meter with its head cocked to the side as if it had grown that way.

She glanced to see three break off in each direction. She turned to face in front of her once more to see the titan running at her from the forest. "Sparta." She called and she clicked her tongue three times. The horse tossed his head and leaned towards the left and sped forwards faster than before, understanding the order. She sent her navigational wires right into the right shoulder of the titan. She propelled herself off of Sparta's back and allowed the wires to pull her towards the titan.

She spun out of the way of the titan's hand and spun to land on its shoulder. "You stupid titans… you always show up… you always kill for fun no less. Maybe I should be more like you… and kill titans for fun. You wouldn't realize I was killing you for fun though. I doubt you would realize what happened. The only thing you would do was chomp at me like we were playing tag…" Evelyn sneered and walked across his shoulders to jab one blade into the nape of his neck, causing him to scream and reach for her.

She sliced off each hand as they came at her. "But… its not fun killing you. In all reality I'm scared out of my mind, but you wouldn't know this… with your ridiculous grins and insatiable hunger." She spat and jabbed the other blade into his nape. She used the blades to slice in the opposite direction than they were jabbed in at. The titan released a final scream of pain, then proceeded to fall forwards, her still on the titan's shoulders.

She pushed herself off of the titan and ran down his back then flipped over onto the inside of its knee, only to continue running. Sparta ran past and she grabbed his reins and pulled herself back onto his back. He ran towards the group of cadets who were following Evelyn. "Head back. Evelyn, get your team and head back. Commander has special instructions he wants the scouts to hear." Mike called as his horse struggled to catch up to her.

"Cadets! Turn back!" Evelyn called and her group nodded and followed her as Sparta leaned into a turn. Evelyn and Sparta skidded to a halt where the main formation of scouts were. Her group skid to a halt right behind her. "We don't have the time to allow everyone to get their gear, and as you already know, not all of us wear it all the time. Every scouting group is going to have someone with their 3D gear, more than two per group. The situation is dire, because we have no idea where the titans came from." Erwin announced and the formation erupted into murmurs.

"Every squad will have a squad leader. If you have a designated squad, get into that squad! The rest of you who do not, will be placed accordingly. Get to moving!" he announced and people began rushing to gather in their squads. Evelyn's makeshift squad stood behind her with uneasy looks. "Evelyn, where is your squad leader" Erwin asked and the red haired girl in her squad cleared her throat. "Commander, sir, we overheard captain Levi saying something about his sister. We have come to respectfully ask to be in her squad, with her as leader… sir." The shy red head said and Erwin was surprised.

"Squad leader Nico, accompany Temporary squad leader Evelyn Rivaille and her squad. Mike will accompany you soon enough as he has his own squad, but I trust you to hold his spot until he can arrive, correct, Evelyn?" he asked and she nodded, he wasn't doubting her ability to lead, even after what she had said nearly two weeks ago. "Squad Rivaille, about face!" Evelyn announced and they all yanked their horses reins to force them to turn.

"Squad Rivaille, move out!" she yelled and her squad took off towards the southwest wall. Nico nodded at her when she looked at him. The dark haired man didn't doubt her abilities either, although he had never even met her. "I trust you have good judgment, Evelyn Rivaille." He said and she nodded. He looked familiar although she had never seen him before, she figured that was so because he was in the garrison unit, and a close friend of commander Erwin.

Evelyn furrowed her brows as she looked over to the man, the way he looked made her think of Marco, which hurt. The comforting look in his eyes, and the way he held himself. It hurt. She clicked her tongue and turned to face in front of her. "Sparta, smell for titans, let's try to avoid as many encounters as possible." She said and her group looked at her oddly as her horse tossed his head back and began sniffing the air. He snorted and jerked to the right.

"Follow me." Evelyn said and the group replied to her with a series of 'yes, sir! 's. Evelyn led her group to the wall and they set out towards the wall to search. "How can your horse smell for titans?" Nico asked his voice was dripping curiosity. "Sparta smells them out in the same manner that Mike does. He has trained himself to sniff out abnormals as well, but for Sparta here, nothing is too much of a challenge. He will run straight at abnormals and normal titans, just because he wants me to kill them." Evelyn said and he nodded.

"Nana has a question, squad leader." The blonde boy called and Evelyn looked back at him for a moment. "Alright, ask away." She said and ignored the blushing brown haired girl's attempt to silence the blonde boy. "U-um… is it true that you were eaten by a titan?" she asked and Evelyn sighed. "Ah… so that's what you wanted to ask. I was hoping it were something easier to explain." Evelyn sighed, and the blonde boy grinned. "So it's true!" he exclaimed and the other four members of her group looked intrigued as well.

"Yes. I trust you won't go trying to get eaten, will you?" she sighed and they all shook their heads. "I was swallowed, yes, but I had no choice but to cut myself out. Not something I suggest you ever willingly try to do." Evelyn sighed and Nico watched her oddly. "What? Its not like I wasn't punished for being reckless. Levi hit me over the head and called me a moron." She sighed with a slight smirk and he looked at her like she was crazy.

"Squad leader!" the girl in the back with the platinum blonde hair and silver eyes called and Evelyn looked back at her. Evelyn's eyes went wide as the girl was ripped off her horse by a three meter titan. "A small abnormal! You all go ahead!" Evelyn said then stood atop sparta's back and sent her wires towards the small titan's eyes. "Laura, struggle as much as you can!" Evelyn said as she pulled the trigger on her gear and sped forwards. Her feet connected with the titan's face and in its surprise it loosened its grip on Laura.

The blonde girl struggled her way out of the titan's grip and Evelyn completely decapitated it when she was out of its grasp. Laura's horse ran back to her, but Sparta stayed a distance away. "Hurry on! Go faster!" Evelyn yelled as more titans appeared from the trees. "Rivaille! Your horse!" Nico yelled and Evelyn shook her head. "Keep him up there!" she yelled, but Sparta yanked himself from Nico's grip and ran towards her.

"Return to the wall! It isn't safe for you all! I will stall them!" Mike's voice rang out and Evelyn looked over to him, where he rode by distracting the titans. Evelyn pulled herself atop Sparta as he ran past. She followed after Mike, despite him telling her to leave. "Mike! It's far too dangerous, I refuse to let you go at it alone!" she yelled and he turned to smirk at her. "I knew you would follow me, I'm no fool, kid." He said and she nodded with a small distressed smile.

They rode as fast as they could, the sky beginning to dim as it furthered into the evening. More and more titans had begun following them and Evelyn's eyes began to sting. "J-Jean…" she whispered, fearing that if things kept going the way they were, she was not going to make it back to her friend, the one whom she admired with everything she had…

She realized she had been pondering on her thoughts for too long when she felt Sparta's rear end come up. Her eyes went wide as she was flung off of him. She hit the group on her back a few feet away and rolled to a stop three yards further. She forced herself up onto her elbows with a whimper. Her ribs hurt and so did her hip. She jerked her head up to see a titan reach for Sparta as he rolled back to his feet from pretty much the same impact as she had received.

"S-sparta…" she stammered as she watched the titan's fingers curl around Sparta's abdomen. Her gear was smashed, and her leg hurt. Her eyes went wide as the titan's expressionless face broke out into a feral grin. "SPARTA!" she screeched as her horse released one last defiant whinny before he hit the ground beside her with a sickening crack, only to continue to roll a few feet away like she had after her initial impact.

She screamed his name once more as she swiftly crawled over to the horse. Tears streamed down her face as she looked over him. His neck was twisted at an odd angle and his limbs were twitching in a spastic manner, signaling that there was no saving him. She heard his pained whinnies and her heart ached. "My Sparta… I'm so sorry…" she sobbed and he breathed rapidly. "You're in so much pain… forgive me." she sobbed and pulled a blade from her holsters.

A series of snorts and huffs almost made her falter, but she pressed the end of her blade where is jugular vein would be, she was aiming for a quick death. He would bleed out within seconds and it would all be over, there would be no more pain. She swiftly shoved the blade down, tuning out his last whimper to save her from more pain. She patted his large muzzle once more, then reached up and grabbed the single tricolored braid that fell behind his ear. She cut the long braid off and shoved it into her pocket.

"I will never say goodbye to you, forgive me Sparta, I should have made you stay with Nico…" she whispered and stood. "I wish I could make it to where the loss of life was minimal, but you damnable titans don't seem to realize this!" Evelyn yelled and squeezed her eyes shut. Her hands fisted at her sides and she sobbed, fearing that the titan that had just injured Sparta, was coming after her now. She was almost knocked off her feet as a large hairy foot hit the ground beside her.

She was at a loss for words as she looked up and saw the small odd looking titan grab a hold of Mike. The titan continued to attempt to eat him, but the beastly titan hovered over it. "Didn't I tell you to stop?" it asked and Evelyn's throat went dry as the beast titan pulled Mike from the mouth of the smaller titan. It continued to talk to Mike, but mike said nothing. She assumed he was just as freaked out and scared stiff as she was.

"Don't leave, little girl, I wish to have a few word with you as well." The beast titan said and Evelyn stopped in her tracks. Her heart was beating through her chest and her mouth was dry. A flicker of white eyes and Evelyn's eyes narrowed. "No… I will not leave." She snapped and the titan chuckled. "Ah, so I see we do speak the same dialect, language, whichever you prefer." He said and she glared at the titan. "I'm going to get angry, just as you said… Mike…" Evelyn said and she tossed her head back, and screamed that same angered scream she had when she had cut herself from within the titan.

The same angered scream that was going to help save her, or so she thought. "You are not doing what I think you are, are you?" the beast titan chuckled and kicked her. Evelyn coughed up blood from the initial impact. As if her gear wasn't smashed before, it surely was now as she hit the ground harder than she had the first time. She rolled to a stop on her side, blood trickling from the edges of her mouth. She could have sworn she saw Marco crouched before her, worry evident in his eyes.

'Get up, Eve!' he urged and a saddened smile crossed her lips. "I can't… not anymore… Marco…" she whispered and his eyes went wide. He had a radiant glow around him and it made her heart flutter, he truly was an angel. She felt herself being lifted and she sighed in relief. 'Eve… you must get up.' His voice became distorted and he faded away. Darkness closed in around her and her pain began to fade. Her eyes slid shut and she sighed in relief.

:-:_:-:

Her eyes cracked open again and she blinked a few times, the sun shone brightly through her window. She sat up on her bed and yawned, rubbing her eyes in her usual morning routine. "What an awful dream…" she whispered and proceeded to search the room. Her things were all there, her scout regiment garments, her harness hung delicately on the wall, and her gear sat neatly on her dresser, the blades and their holsters neatly beneath it.

She stretched once more before she stood and shook out whatever kinks there were in her muscles. She walked over to her dresser and pulled out a pair of white skinny jeans, as she usually wore since white pants were a requirement for the uniform. Apparently the shirt color didn't matter, since both Jean and Eren wore variants of green. She pulled out her usual blue tank top and pulled it over her head. She then proceeded to put her harness on, her gear on, and then her beige coat. The wings of freedom shone proudly on the patches and the back.

She pulled her boots on and stretched once more with a yawn. She rushed out of her room and down the hallway a few doors. She pushed open Levi's door and grinned seeing him leaning out his window. "Levi!" she called and he turned to her. "Eve." He greeted and she walked over to him. "You gonna come get breakfast with me?" she asked and he clicked his tongue. "It's lunch time, Eve. Commander told me to let you sleep today." He sighed boredly and Evelyn shrugged.

"Meh, does it matter?" she asked and he scoffed and shook his head. "Yeah, it does matter. But… let's go, I'm hungry as well. I was waiting on your lazy ass to get up anyways." He sighed and shoved himself off the windowsill. Evelyn smiled and linked her arms with Levi. They strolled down the hall, Evelyn continuously talking while Levi just listened, not bothering to reply. They made it to the entrance of the cafeteria and Evelyn was bum rushed.

"Hey Eve!" a familiar voice called and someone kissed her on the cheek, much to Levi's irritation. Her dark blue eyes met with dark brown ones and her heart stopped. "M-Marco…" she managed then looked around him to try and find Jean, who was nowhere in sight. "Where's Jean?" she asked and Marco's smile fell a bit, then he turned and searched around for him as well. "Huh, usually he is up and about at this time…" Marco mumbled, but shrugged and turned back to Evelyn.

"How are you feeling?" he asked and she furrowed her brows. "How am I feeling? What do you mean?" she asked and he frowned. "During the attack on trost, you hit your head pretty hard. Jean and I were the ones who brought you here. That and captain Levi wouldn't allow you to go anywhere but the survey corps." Marco chuckled lightly and Evelyn's lip trembled. She proceeded to hug Marco tightly, her tears staining his pristine white shirt.

He patted her on the back as Jean walked up, he had a slightly distressed look on his face. Jean said nothing, but Marco continued to try and console her. "This isn't real…" she sobbed and Marco's hand stopped. "What are you talking about Eve?" he asked and she sobbed louder into her hands. His hands were so cold, so dead. "You aren't real." She sobbed and Jean's distressed look became one of pride, as if he were proud she had figured it out. "Good job, Eve." Jean's voice echoed around her as she sobbed.

"We could have been together here, Eve… we could have all been together. You, me, and Jean. We could have been a team again…" Marco's voice echoed around her as he and everything else faded away. "I know Marco, but it wouldn't have been real. I was going to stay, but I have priorities, people counting on me." Evelyn whispered as tears streaked down her cheeks. "Marco… we still are together, me, you, and Jean never split up." Evelyn said as the entire image became black.

Her eyes snapped open and she coughed up blood on the ground. "You're always here, Marco. You never left." Evelyn said as she shoved herself off the ground. She stood and coughed once more into her hands, blood splattering all over her newly burnt skin. Her eyes went wide as she studied the burns on her arms. Her face hurt as well. She reached up and felt the burnt skin there as well. That was when she realized that she was standing within a small titan skeleton at about the stomach area.

That was also when she looked up and saw the massive amount of scratch marks littering the ground, and the steaming skeletons of the titans that were all round. Her eyes went wide as she realized that the beast titan had gotten away, seeing that a skeleton that size was nowhere to be seen. She bit her lip and withheld a scream as she saw him, what was left of him lying on the ground beside the building. She ran over to him and hit her knees.

"M-mike…" she choked on her words, her eyes stinging and her throat going dry. Even in death, he had that haughty look on his face. What amazed her the most was that he hadn't looked like that before he was killed, he had been scared. What had happened that made him so haughty before he had died? Her lip trembled and she pulled his scout regiment coat from his body. Her tears escaped when she realized his name was written in marker on the inside of the collar.

He had been a great comrade and had given her a major confidence boost. She sobbed as she remembered hanging out with him, Petra, Erd, and Hanji. They had all been eating lunch together and they had been comparing muscles, having arm wrestles and been making jokes on about how Levi always smelled like bleach. She buried her face into her hands and sobbed loudly. "Forgive me…" she sobbed and pulled his coat on.

She was going to give the coat to Hanji, seeing as she had been his squad leader and one of his closest friends. She wondered what happened. Had titan Eve shown up? If so, where had she gone? A chilling thought flashed in her mind, but despite how much she tried to shove it out of her mind, it continuously came back. What if titan Eve was dead? Killed by the beastly titan… Evelyn bit her lip as she focused on her walking instead of her thoughts.

She saw the towering wall in the distance and became hopeful as she started to run towards it. She saw people standing atop the wall and she bit her lip as tears streaked down her cheeks and she ran faster to get to the wall. She unclipped her broken gear from her harness and it hit the ground with a loud clatter. She ran faster without the gear hindering her. She reached the wall and began yelling at someone to help her.

General Pixis dropped down the wall and landed before her within a few minutes. "Evelyn Rivaille! Where is your squad?" he asked and her lip trembled. "I sent them back here with squad leader Nico, did they arrive safely?" she asked and he nodded. "Ah, so that was your group. Where is Mike, wasn't he with you?" Pixis asked and her bangs fell to cover her eyes. He seemed surprised at first, but the surprise soon vanished and he motioned for another cadet to make their way down the wall with spare gear.

"Let's head back up, Evelyn, no doubt you are tired." He said softly and she nodded her lip still trembling, but she never met his gaze. "He went with that smug look though, did he not? It just wouldn't me Mike if he hadn't." Pixis said, trying to get Evelyn to speak. "He was about to die, with a fearful look. But… something happened… and he passed with that smug look, as you said." She whispered as she secured the new gear.

"Good, the man deserved to know he wasn't about to die in vain. Now, I on the other hand, wish to know what happened to that brilliant steed of yours, Sparta, wasn't it? Is he wandering out there alone?" he asked and Evelyn's hands froze over the left blade holster. Her shoulders began shaking and her tears splashed against the holster as she reached into the pocket of her white pants and pulled out the horse hair braid.

"The titan severely injured my Sparta, so I had to end his suffering." She sobbed loudly and held the braid close to her chest as she cried. "I see, you have been through a lot tonight, forgive me for asking. We need to get to the top then, don't we?" he asked and Evelyn shot out her navigational wires and pulled herself up the wall in rapid movements. She pulled the coat around her tightly and stumbled over to a pile of wooden crates.

"Hanji and those from castle Utgard should be returning soon, you should get some sleep, Evelyn." Pixis said and Evelyn leaned against the crates. She couldn't really sleep, because the only thing she could think about is what she had told Hanji before this entire mess had happened. What would Jean think when commander Erwin announced it tomorrow? What would they all think when it was revealed that she had once again been eaten by a titan, this time something else had killed it before she could, was that actually what had happened?

Evelyn's thoughts stopped short when she touched her forehead and the area around her eyes, the burns just barely there. Her eyes drifted down to her wrists and she saw that the same pattern she felt over her eyes, was on her hands and wrists. She had seen this all before. Her breathing faltered and her heart raced.

She had done what her father had asked, right down to a point.

:-:-:-: Before Hanji and Evelyn had arrived at the capital :-:-:-:

Evelyn sat in her room; she was going to the capital today to see Levi and the others. A week had passed and Annie had been announced as the female titan. There was one thing she was going to do before she went to the capital. She pulled the straps of her gear tighter around her legs and sighed, Marco's blushing face flickering in her mind as she did so. Everything reminded her of her friend. "I will never tell you goodbye, Marco. I'm going to confront one of those who caused your demise, and I will end them all, my friend." She said then pressed her fingers to her lips in a soft kiss then placed the fingers she kissed, over her heart.

She only heard the echo of her boots as she made her way towards the lower levels of the headquarters. As she descended further into the headquarters, she noticed a chill as she continued down. She saw the door at the end of the hall and her eyes narrowed, her breathing calmed, and her heart ached. 'This is for you… Marco.' She thought as her fingers brushed the handle of the door and she pushed. The first person she saw was Hanji.

"Evelyn." She greeted and moved out of the way to reveal a crystallized Annie. Evelyn walked close to the crystal and her calm façade became angered as she reared back and punched the crystal with everything she had. "You Bitch!" she yelled as she heard the crack of her wrist and every knuckle in her hand. "Evelyn!" Hanji Screeched and Evelyn just gripped her forearm with the other hand. Blood dripped profusely all over the floor and Hanji's eyes were wide as she stared at the bones that were visible.

"Evelyn…" Hanji began but Evelyn grit her teeth and reared that same arm back and punched the crystal once more, but with noticeably less force. "You Stupid Bitch… How could you do that to him! How dare you do that to Marco! What did he do to deserve a death like that? You and your titan friends let them in! You let them get Marco and then you stole his gear!" Evelyn sobbed as she hit her knees. Gripping her arm tightly as the adrenaline of her initial anger faded and the pain hit her full force and not just the Numbing pain it had been.

Her fingers moved and her hand began to steam as the injury began to fade. She continued to move her fingers until it didn't hurt to move them anymore. The steam faded and her hand was fixed, not a single trace of the damage she had done to it moments before. "How did you know it would actually heal?" Hanji asked as Evelyn stopped sobbing. Evelyn looked up at Hanji and her eyes were saddened. "I had a feeling there was something wrong with me from the start… but I never knew what it was…" Evelyn said and she stood.

"When I was younger, when I was ten… I was abandoned in wall Maria, whereas Levi had found his way to the underground. My memories of my family… me asking when Levi would return home from scout training… those weren't real. Everything I thought I knew… was fake… I had gone into shock as a child and something or someone planted those memories somehow to keep me from seeing the truth. I had released a titan, called titan project Eve. I had gotten angry with my parents and I had run away." Evelyn said with a frown.

"They had tried to kill titan Eve, I had protected her, released her, and she devoured my family… then she vanished. I had gotten hurt repeatedly after I had released titan Eve… But I never actually stayed hurt. As I was climbing the pipes of buildings in Shiganshina, I had apparently fallen and injured my leg, according to those around me. it had been twisted at an odd and very uncomfortable angle, but I stood and walked away as if nothing had happened." Evelyn explained and Hanji nodded, listening intently.

"I was always getting hurt, breaking bones, hearing them crack and within minutes I would stand back up, as if it had been nothing. I never knew what was going on. not until a week ago. I read through father's journal and found a great deal of disturbing things. He bonded my DNA with that of titan Eve… giving me healing abilities… but even those abilities have a limit…" Evelyn began but someone cleared their throat and Evelyn and Hanji looked over to see Mike standing there. "You two can talk on the way back to the capital commander Erwin is awaiting your report Evelyn." He said and Evelyn nodded.

She and Hanji walked to get their horses in silence. "You have healing abilities, similar to that of a titan, right Evelyn? So… why would you still get sick… how can you faint like a human… how are you so weak?" Hanji asked and Evelyn frowned. She understood that Hanji didn't mean weak as in physically weak, she meant weak as in immune system weak. "I can get sick, because my healing abilities only cover non-life threatening wounds. Illness is not a wound. Minor infections of the skin never form, broken bones heal, cuts heal, but I still get bruises… I guess I couldn't get lucky enough to get the bruise healing part… I'm guessing it only heals injuries that actually either break the skin or break bones… bruises do neither, so I don't think that would ever be close to anything on my super healing list." Evelyn sighed and Hanji nodded.

"I think I get it, unlike titans, you only have one body and that is the body keeping you alive. The titan body has two, or so we believe. Judging by what we have seen from Eren and Annie, titans may actually be controlled by humans. We believe that the skinless titans control the unintelligent titans with their roars. Its just a theory but our theory seems to prove a good one judging by Annie and Eren." Hanji sighed and Evelyn frowned.

"Uh… don't go telling anyone that I think titans may be controlled by humans… I don't think anyone needs to get wind of that until the commander and I prove it…" she sighed as she jumped atop her own horse. Evelyn patted Sparta on the neck and sighed as she stared up at the sky from his back. "Such a nice day, don't you think?" Evelyn asked and Hanji smiled. "Yes. I do think so. The sky is beautiful, not a cloud in sight and the sun is shining bright." Hanji said and Evelyn smiled at the eccentric woman.

"Hanji…" Evelyn began and the older woman turned to face her once more. Evelyn was staring down at her hands and her face looked horrified. She was fiddling with the reins of her horse her eyes secured to the shining leather. "Evelyn what is it?" Hanji asked and Evelyn looked up at her. "Will you promise not to get mad at me, or hate me?" she asked and Hanji furrowed her brows. "Evelyn, why would I get angry with you? You have done nothing wrong." Hanji said and Evelyn shook her head.

"Hanji… you're wrong… I have done something wrong. I erased the last line of the last entry in my father's journal." She said and Hanji looked at her in shock. "What did it say that would cause you to erase it, Evelyn?" Hanji asked and Evelyn looked back at her with trembling lips and tear filled eyes as she opened her mouth to speak. The words flowed free and Hanji's face contorted with a mixture of confusion, sorrow, and regret.

"I'm sorry for being such an awful parent… for placing this burden upon you and making you the only one to be able to stop the titan. Forgive me… for creating this titan, from you. Everything you are, this titan was built from. You are the only one who can do anything about it. You are the only one who can bond with this titan, to take it over from the inside out, and take it within yourself."


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own attack on titan.

Evelyn's entire body hurt, she couldn't move. The only thing she could actually do was lie there and sob. In the distance, she could see Sparta lying there motionless; she couldn't quite remember why though. The pain was too much to try to remember. Her fingers found something and they managed to wrap around the object. She managed to run her thumb over it and her lip trembled as it registered in her mind what the object was, the lone braid from Sparta's mane.

It also faintly registered in her mind as something had begun lifting her broken body. "What are you doing, I said I needed that one too." That voice echoed loudly once more. Evelyn blinked a few times, through her tears and through her pain, empty white eyes on a feminine face focused into view. It just barely clicked in her mind as Evelyn was being picked up by titan Eve. She heard an awful sound, like ripping flesh; as the titan swiftly drug a claw straight up and lowered Evelyn into the back of its neck.

She could hear the melding of the flesh as it closed the opening in the back of the titan's neck. It sounded like a sickening burning sound, and it smelled just as bad until the smells faded away, as well as the sounds. For a moment, Eve saw through the eyes of the titan as she slashed down all the smaller titans, the beast titan had dropped Mike to them, which had most likely started the rampage. Soon enough, what she could see of the world the titan saw, faded away and she had begun to dream… but the dreams felt so real.

A sudden warmth jolted Evelyn's mind and she blinked, her eyes focusing on the world around her; but the object of the warmth was nowhere in sight. She saw Marco, she saw Levi, and she saw the distressed Jean standing off to the side. But not one of them was close enough to be generating the heat she felt. There was a pressure around her ribcage, which the heat was focused around too. Marco began looking distressed, while Jean looked surprised.

While the distressed look grew on Marco's face, a slow smile spread across Jean's. "Wake up, Eve." His voice echoed to her and she furrowed her brows. "Jean…" she managed as his image had begun to fade. "Eve. Please wake up." His voice sounded pleading. He sounded like he needed her to wake up, but wasn't she already awake? "Eve! Please!" his voice sounded closer, more desperate. Her eyes snapped open and she jolted into a coughing fit.

Light flooded her vision and she gasped as she snapped her eyes back shut. "Thank God!" he sighed and the warmth felt extremely close, the pressure tightening as well. Her eyes fluttered and she looked at him. "Jean…" she murmured and he nodded leaning away from her a bit. "Yeah, I'm here, what happened to you? Where's Sparta, usually he is at the stables but when I tended to the horses this morning he and Blaze weren't there." Jean said and Evelyn's head dropped and she pulled the braid from her pocket.

"Jean…" she whimpered and he froze, his golden orbs landing on the braid in her grasp. "I see, damn…" he muttered and she looked up at him. "Why were you so worried about me? I was perfectly fine sleeping…" she said softly and he shook his head. "You began convulsing, that's why he woke you…" Reiner said and Evelyn's eyes went wide. "What were you dreaming of that could make you convulse like that?" Jean asked and she furrowed her brows.

"Titans… and Marco…" she whispered and Jean frowned and she grabbed his hands intertwining her fingers with his with a heartbroken look. Reiner motioned for Bertholt to follow him and they made their way over to Eren, who appeared to be glaring over the edge. "Jean… I have something to tell you, it's about that assignment I had to go on with Mike and Nanaba…" she whispered and he looked at her in confusion. "What is it? I heard you were going to retrieve something from your old home." He said and she nodded.

"It was, it just wasn't what I had been hoping to ever see, hear, or have to explain. I never wanted this, Jean… I never knew." She whispered and he furrowed his brow at her. "Eve, you aren't making any sense. What are you trying to say?" he asked and her lip trembled. "I'm… I'm like Eren now… Jean." She whispered and he furrowed his brow once more and shook his head. "How can you just suddenly become like him? There's no way, I don't get it." he said and she frowned.

"I think you hit your head." He chuckled and a slight smile twitched at her lips, and her head tilted to the side as she laughed. "You're right. Maybe this is just all one horrible dream." she said and he grinned crookedly at her. "No, but really… if you were like Eren, I would have to walk away." He began and her throat went dry, no words could form due to the fear that had consumed her. He flashed a smirk and added, "The bastard is annoying." Her arms found their way around his shoulders and she hugged him tightly.

She wanted nothing more than to cry, scream and pull her hair out at the moment, but with him here she supposed everything would be worth it. "So, Eve, what monster are they telling you that you are now?" he asked and she pulled away from her hug, with an odd look. He flashed her another smirk and added, "Other than a monkey of course." She laughed and shoved at him with a small uneasy smile. "They call her, titan Eve." Levi butted in from above, quietly.

"Titan Eve?" Jean asked, "Is that some sort of sick joke?" he added and Levi motioned for him to stay quiet. "She's-" he began but steam exploded everywhere and Evelyn's eyes went wide as she saw the colossal titan form on the wall. Eren and the armored titan were going at it down below, and all rational thought slipped Evelyn's mind as she watched the colossal titan toss a random soldier into his mouth along with Ymir, the one now revealed as the dancing titan.

Chills covered her body as she approached the halfway formed colossal titan. "It's Bertholt, Evelyn!" Hanji yelled and Evelyn walked over to it with more purpose now. "B- Bertholt? Why?" she sobbed, reaching out to touch the face that was much larger than she was. The stinging sensation of her skin burning upon contact made her hiss and pull her hands back. He watched her with those same, regret filled eyes, while hers only proceeded to fill with anger, her confusion dissipating swiftly as the truth sunk in.

"M-Marco…" she stammered, her anger flickering in her eyes and his eyes flickered uncomfortably at her. "Marco died… He died because of you!" she screamed at the top of her lungs; while pointing an accusing finger at him and he huffed slightly, his eyes holding that same mixture of pain and regret she had seen in his eyes when they had sparred; he turned and she did the same, turning to see Eren winning the fight between him and Reiner. He threw himself off the wall and she watched him for a second as he fell. Her anger became outright rage and she turned around, ran in a semi-circle, then she threw herself off the wall with him, despite the yells for her to stop from Levi and Jean. Her teeth sank deeply into her hand, much deeper than Eren would bite, but the same explosion of dense steam occurred just like when they had changed.

Jean rushed over to the edge only to see Reiner running away, his hands guarding his neck where he supposedly held Ymir, Bertholt, and Eren. He searched around the base of the wall for Evelyn, but he was only met with empty white eyes that stared up at him. Those empty white eyes made his hands tremble, because deep down he already knew who it was. "Evelyn!" he yelled and the titan looked up at him with those blind; unseeing eyes. She sniffed the air and her lips parted in a slight breathy hiss. The titan was crouched at the base of the wall, her small stature making it hard for her to be seen through the steam, she was about seven to ten meters in size, but her legs looked slightly crooked and broken, if not that; then positioned to a state similar that to a dog's hind legs.

"Hanji! That's Evelyn! What can we do to help her?" Levi yelled and the eccentric woman furrowed her brows. "She doesn't look too friendly." Pixis said lightly and before anyone could stop him, Jean rushed to send himself over the edge. "Someone follow him! It's too dangerous for him to go alone!" Levi yelled, but no one jumped off the edge to assist him, he knew why, she was the night stalker titan. It was obvious she was just as dangerous as the previous titans had been, they weren't going to risk their lives for his sister, much less Jean. Jean retracted his wires a few feet from the ground and he landed in front of her.

The titan slammed her hands against the ground, her lips parting in excitement, her empty white eyes widening as she sniffed at him. She reached for him and his fear froze him where he stood. Everything within him yelled at him to run, to get away as fast as he could; but… he couldn't move. No, it wasn't that he couldn't move, it was just that he wouldn't move, not this time. He was not going to let her be consumed by the titan. Her claws connected with the ground on each side of him and her mouth hovered in front of him. Her lips parted slightly, and he thought she was going to speak or something, but the sides of her mouth split open and she screeched at him. Her screeches sounded just like the ones he had heard when they were trying to capture Annie the first time.

His blades hit the ground and he hit his knees as her mouth hovered closer to him. Her screeches still didn't stop, and she sounded as if she were in pain. She began shaking her head from side to side and screeching louder. Jean looked onto the titan's back and his eyes went wide. Levi stood over the nape of her neck with a blade jabbed deep within. "Stop it, You will kill her!" he yelled and the titan collapsed over him. "Eve!" he yelled and stood quickly. "What else do you suppose I do? If I don't cut her out, we will have to fight her again, but you already know how it will end if we fight her." Levi said and Jean moved closer to Evelyn's titan form.

He began knocking on the titan's head with heavy hits. "Eve! Wake up dammit! I Know what you are thinking!" he yelled and Levi stared at him oddly, but it didn't stop his rant. "Eren told me how when he would lose control of the titan, it would show him the things he wanted most, so he would go back to sleep and continue to give it the control it wanted!" Jean yelled and he stopped hitting the titan's head. He looked about to break down. He grit his teeth and tried to will away the sadness that was eating at him.

"Don't be selfish dammit!" he yelled and hit his knees in front of the titan's face. "I want to see him again too… but I would never want it like this… I would never want it to where it wasn't real." He said, his voice becoming softer. "Don't leave me, Evelyn, you have brought me this far… don't ditch me now…" he said, his hand still touching her forehead. "Not while I need you, not while Marco is counting on you. Not while he is counting on us." He said and her nose twitched.

"Don't let those false dreams consume you. They aren't real!" Jean yelled as Evelyn's titan form snorted. "Never… leave." She breathed slowly, her words like a chilling whisper. His eyes went wide as her eyes opened to reveal blue orbs staring back at him. She began to steam and Evelyn fell from the nape of its neck. He rushed to catch her and she offered a small barely conscious smile. "Never, I will never leave." He laughed, despite how scared shitless he had been.

"I am going to save Eren…" she murmured and he looked at her oddly. "How?" he asked and she smiled dazedly at him. "I'm going to rip Reiner to shreds…" she murmured and he stared at her in shock. "I thought they were my friends…" she managed and he frowned. "As Bertholt said to me once, he and Reiner are warriors…" she whispered and Jean stared at her oddly. "But… I… I am not a warrior, I'm something much more needed when it comes to the safety of my group. I am a guardian, and your friend." She said as she forced herself up to wrap her arms around his shoulders.

"And wherever you lead, I will follow." She said and he gripped her tightly. "I think I understand now." He said and she smiled lightly. "I have something for Hanji-san, Jean… I have to give it to her." She said and Jean nodded. "I already know what it is, let's get you on the wall, alright?" he asked and she nodded. When they landed on top of the wall Hanji was the first to rush over to them, other than Levi who landed on the wall beside them.

Jean released Evelyn and she began removing the much larger jacket, which in the end Jean had to help her remove, seeing as she was moments away from falling over. Jean draped Evelyn's arm around his shoulder and he held her up as she handed the jacket to Hanji. "Forgive me… Hanji." Evelyn said and Hanji's eyes went wide, before she looked about ready to double over and cry. The initial shock had Hanji silently sobbing and clutching the jacket to her.

"He helped you though, right Evelyn?" she asked through her silent tears. Evelyn nodded. "He passed with that same smug look he always has, but only after giving me enough time to take over titan Eve, although… she thought it was… her taking me over... There… was… a…" Evelyn began but her body went limp and Jean struggled to catch her. He held her close until he could set her down on a pile of cloths they had found.

He sighed and removed his hand from her forehead, she wasn't burning up, she wasn't hyperventilating… she wasn't doing anything… but then all of a sudden Evelyn's body began convulsing and she began foaming at the mouth. He froze, not knowing what to do. Hanji shoved him out of the way and pulled Evelyn to her lightly, turning her so that whatever she was spitting up wouldn't cause her any harm. After a few minutes Evelyn stopped convulsing and Hanji set her on her side.

"What is causing this, Levi?" Hanji asked and he shook his head. "I'm not sure, the last time I had seen her convulse like that was when we were children, I don't suppose she had had a seizure in the past few years, seeing as Jean was just as surprised as you are. Judging by the fact she hasn't… she must have had some sort of contact with something that she is allergic to. That or this could be her way of spazzing out, like Eren does when he remembers things. Personally I would prefer her to space out if she was remembering something…" Levi said and Hanji frowned.

"It must be something to do with the titan genes, something is trying to keep something hidden I'm betting. Eren has never gotten this bad, has he? He just wakes up as if from a nightmare, so… what could Evelyn have seen or heard that makes her convulse like this?" Hanji asked and looked up at Levi who frowned. "She did this when she had made the first contact with titan Eve in father's 'cabin' or as we now know, the home made testing lab. I'm not sure what had really happened, but he brought Evelyn home and she was convulsing like that. There was a doctor there supposedly… telling father he needed to bring her home and let her rest. I'm still curious as to where the rest of the journal entries went…" Levi sighed, pressing his fingers into the bridge of his nose to attempt to dull out the painful throbbing there.

Evelyn sat up and Jean grabbed her shoulders tightly. "Eve, are you alright?" he asked and she nodded, there was a stern look on her face as she clenched her mouth shut and swallowed deeply. "Don't try to tell us or else you will have a repeat of that. If you can write it down, do that later. We are going after Eren and Ymir when the sun hits the horizon. We need you up and about." Levi said and the soft determination in her eyes vanished, replaced by an extreme anger.

Evelyn stood and prepared her gear with fury plastered on her features. "I'm going to rip them to shreds, how dare they! I thought we were friends. They…" she began and her fingers clenched at her sides. "They got Marco killed. They tore our group apart, and they will pay." Evelyn said her voice betraying her anger, her voice was calm as if she were confident she would get her revenge. Jean stood and grabbed his gear. "First, we save Eren, then we get revenge for Marco." He said and she nodded. She had noticed that people had begun keeping their distance from her, sending her looks of disgust and fear. She ignored them, as much as it hurt and turned to Jean.

They bumped fists then proceeded to get their gear set up. As they heard the horses following along the wall Evelyn grabbed Jean's hand. "Let's do this, Jean." She said sternly and he was a bit shocked at first but he smirked and nodded at her. He knew she was still seeking him out for comfort, even if she didn't realize it anymore. "Let's do this." He replied with one of his cocky smirks. They made their way off the wall and each of them got on their horses, except Evelyn, who rode double with Jean, refusing to touch another horse.

"You know, this is highly unethical… right?" he asked and she nodded. "That's why, when I get close enough, I'm taking to the trees." She said and he stared at her in surprise. "Levi told me I could, since I'm the only one who can sniff them out." She said and he nodded. "Be careful, Eve." He sighed and she smiled. "Worried about me, I see." She said softly and he nodded. "That's not once, but twice I've seen you have a seizure today, please try not to make that a habit." He sighed and she smiled and nodded.

"So I can put almost eating you on the list of things you don't mind me doing then?" she asked and he let out a sarcastic laugh. "Fuck you, Evelyn. That shit wasn't even funny." He grumbled and she laughed once more. "Maybe you should eat Reiner, he has bothered you for the longest time, after all." Jean said with a smirk and she snorted. "Surely you jest, I'm not going to eat him. I'm going to destroy him, unless he can give me a perfectly plausible reason for what he has done." She said and his mood dropped.

"I understand… I'm not sure what to believe anymore… Eve…" he said and she tightened her grip around him. "Believe in me, please." She said and he looked back at her in surprise, only to see her angry tear filled eyes. "I'm going to find out why they did this… even if I have to be the one to help kill them…" she said and his shoulders fell and he nodded. "We have to find out why…" he said and she placed her forehead against his back.

"Just know, I won't be too far ahead of you and the others. I will try to stay close, just so you know that I'm safe." She said and he nodded. "Good, then I won't have to worry all that much, or so I'd hope…" he replied and she smiled sadly.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Ymir and Eren stared at the two before them with unsure looks, the whole time the other two had been talking; they had only succeeded in pissing Eren off even more. They heard what appeared to be cannon fire and smoke rose above the trees. Reiner looked distressed as the noises were getting closer. Ymir had convinced them to let her go and retrieve Historia, but Reiner had told her to make it quick before her had knocked Eren out.

Within minutes Ymir had transformed and taken off. Bertholt looked over at Reiner with an unsure look. "Why do you think she wants Historia?" he asked and Reiner shrugged. "I don't know, but she's going to get us killed if she doesn't hurry." He sighed and tossed Eren over to Bertholt. A bolt of lightning followed by a large puff of smoke drifted above the trees and soon enough, Ymir was back in sight. The problem was though, she wasn't alone.

"Oh… god… what is that!?" Bertholt stammered and Reiner grimaced as the creature came into sight. It tore down trees as it lunged from branch to branch. "Bloody fucking hell! That's the thing we left back at the wall! Where did it come from in the first place?!" he yelled and bit down on his hand before Bertholt even had a chance to answer him. He transformed and took off running, Ymir, Eren, and Bertholt on his back. "Reiner! Run!" Bertholt yelled as the creature lunged from the trees and chomped its jaws, narrowly missing Bertholt as Reiner clasped his hands over him, Ymir, Christa, and Eren.

The normal titans grabbed a hold of the titan and it screamed once, then burst into steam. An angered scream erupted from the steam as the person within ripped themselves free. "Its Evelyn, Reiner! She really is the night stalker!" Bertholt exclaimed and he turned to eye the small titan as it faded away. As the normal titans were distracted with the body of her titan, Evelyn dropped to the ground and began running after them. "She can't transform for a while so I think we are fine for now." Bertholt said through Reiner's armored fingers, he almost sounded relieved.

Ymir watched as Evelyn ran after them, her eyes narrowed and she grunted. Bertholt took that as an unsure response from the dancing titan. Another titan ran at Evelyn and Bertholt looked away as it lunged at her, she had no way to dodge. Her scream as the creature removed her arm haunted his mind, if only for a moment. The pained scream became a feral angered one, causing Bertholt to look back at her. "R-Reiner-" he started and Reiner turned to face the titan. "She's faster than Annie." He began as a wicked grin broke out over Evelyn's lips. She had forced herself to become a titan once more.

It was hardly a surprise when she spun the smaller titan behind her and smashed it against the tree, removing its head and shoulders with one swift movement. Bertholt's eyes were wide with fear and he was sweating profusely, he didn't know what to do and it seemed he had lost the ability to speak as of the moment. He had only regained the ability to speak when Evelyn had begun gaining on them at a swift pace. He stammered at first, but then his voice came out as a fearful murmur, while Ymir had truly gained the ability to speak.

"She got bigger too, this is no good, someone is going to have to fight her." Ymir managed and Reiner moved his hands to let Ymir take charge of protecting the ones on Reiner's back. Reiner's fists came up in a defensive manner as Evelyn raised her own fists. She was still smaller than he was, but he was not going to let his guard down. "She appears to be able to change sizes depending on her objective, I've seen other titans do that before, but I'm not so sure it's a good thing when dealing with this one…" Bertholt said softly, seemingly very nervous.

Reiner huffed at him to be quiet and Bertholt frowned. Reiner watched for the claws, so far they hadn't formed; so it seemed as if she didn't plan on using them. That… or she couldn't figure out how to harden them once more. Evelyn's lips parted in a sneer and she snapped at him lightly. His jaw unhinged slightly and he huffed a stream of extremely hot steam at her in a manner of attempting to induce fear, but her eyes twinkled with excitement and her lips twitched into a devious smirk, much like Annie's had when she had spotted Eren in the woods. Apparently the thought of a fight excited her.

She lunged at Reiner faster than he could dodge, grabbing a hold of his shoulders with her hands and she swung her feet inwards to attempt and knock him off balance, even if it were a little. She was like a very large tick on the back of a frog at this point, where size mattered, but she was still something to be wary of. Compared to the sixteen meter titan before her, she was about a little over half his size, meaning she could easily be squashed by him if she wasn't careful.

"They… killed… Marco, and Mike and they… killed Sparta. You… killed them." she breathed angrily, which sounded like an eerie hiss, and Bertholt looked through Ymir's grasp in surprise. "She can speak too…" which seemed to awe him a little more than it should have because Reiner huffed at him in irritation as he struggled to get the smaller titan to release him. She reared back one hand and like ice spreading across a surface, those diamond like claws formed from the knuckle down to her fingertips. "Reiner!" Bertholt yelled as her arm swung down and her claws dug deeply into his shoulder and she reared back and did the same with the other hand, securing her to him. The moment her claws dug into his shoulders, it elicited an angry and pained yell from the larger titan.

"Reiner, shake her! We don't have time for this!" Bertholt yelled as the scouts announced they were closing in. Evelyn screeched at him through sneering lips, which not soon after; split open like some creature from a horror story. Her jaws opened wide, revealing extremely sharp teeth in the front with flatter teeth far in the back. "Guess talking time is over." Ymir managed and Bertholt looked at her in shock. She continued to snap at Reiner's face, who was struggling even more to get her off now that he had seen the diamond like sheen that glimmered across her teeth as well as her claws.

Reiner managed to rip her off of him and he held her by her throat, a distance from him. "Don't kill her." Bertholt said and Reiner snorted, as if saying 'why would I?' but that didn't stop him from grabbing her wrist and throwing her roughly. When she hit the ground, her clawed hand went up and straight through her eyes and out of the back of her head. She slumped over and her face began steaming as her claws fell from her face.

Jean saw Evelyn fall and he grit his teeth, he knew she would be alright, he had seen Eren punch his own head off for heaven's sake. He had seen limbs be removed from Eren as well, but the bastard still continued to get up. Those thoughts still didn't kill his worries, he made his way over to her and he climbed up to her head once it had stopped steaming in the front. Her eyes fluttered, but they didn't open completely. "Evelyn… Wake up, for me. You have to get up." He said and began knocking on her forehead with his fists, much like he had before. He froze where he stood when he saw her eyes flutter again, but the dark blue wasn't there. "Shit, not again." He groaned and shot off his wires to get away by use of trees in the surrounding area.

He looked back to see the titan readjusting its own legs, forcefully. By forcefully, he meant the titan part of Eve was breaking its legs to rearrange them back into the animalistic form they had been when Evelyn was bounding through the trees. The titan was fully prepared to go running on all fours, like a wolf; as Evelyn had described in her dream. He turned to face back forwards, since catching up to Reiner, Bertholt, Ymir, Eren, and Christa was top priority.

He turned back once more to see Evelyn's eyes roll up and the color return to them mid run. To say he was surprised was an understatement, a massive one. Evelyn rushed by on all fours, her back sunken in, her head tucked down a bit, and her back legs crooked to where running like that would be easier. He was disgusted because it was unnatural and just bothered him, it was nowhere near the abnormal Sasha had described as she went on talking about the crab runner titan she had encountered. Evelyn more or less looked like some screwed up mutated animal running like that…

When she caught up to Reiner she began moving on her legs once more, stopping only and disgusted Jean all the same. She still managed to stand not even minutes later, running after them once more. He was getting himself sick watching her titan continuously break and re break its limbs. Steam surrounded Evelyn's legs, which made him suppress a disgusted shiver, did she even know what she was doing? He focused back at his target, Reiner; in an attempt to get the disturbing images of titan Eve out of his mind.

He swung around and shot wires out into Reiner's face, connecting him to the titan and pulling Jean to him swiftly. He proceeded to yell at the titan. They were all yelling at him and Bertholt, asking them if it was all a lie, if they had never actually been friends. Begging them to reply, wanting some sort of answer from them. Armin used the Annie trump card and Bertholt burst from behind Reiner's hands, yelling back at them with angry tears in his eyes, asking them if they really thought he WANTED to kill humans. He just continued to yell he only wanted to return home, to see his family.

Evelyn skidded in front of them, the moment Bertholt had taken Armin's bait. Mikasa and the others had successfully retrieved Eren, and were retreating due to titans closing in on them. Her mouth, which had been completely open like some sort of ridiculous freak show creation; had closed once more and was currently a frown with a mixture of pain and slight wonder. "Reiner. Bertholt." She said, her voice strong, not the angered hiss like it usually was.

"I want to know why I shouldn't kill you." She said, it was a demand and she was unwavering. Reiner was tired and Bertholt couldn't transform lest he want to be taken down swiftly by her claws. He knew when he was at a loss. The only thing the colossal titan had was his immense stature and intelligence, he was slow moving and his reflexes were bad, unlike Annie and Reiner, who's titans were built for strength and speed. He wouldn't stand a chance against those claws, and they both knew it.

"I want to know." She began again and Bertholt stood on Reiner's shoulder. "You two were my friends, give me a good reason not to end your existence." Her voice sounded pleading. "We only want to go home. That's all." Bertholt said and Evelyn's hands formed their claws again. "I want to be free, and… it just so happens, you bunch are the only things in my way. If I let you return home, I'll never be free, Jean will never be free." She said and her claws swiped right at Reiner, who grabbed her arm and huffed the stream at her once more.

"We have no choice Eve!" Bertholt yelled and Evelyn stopped struggling, her eyes narrowing as she watched them. "We need Eren." Bertholt said, his voice sounding sad before Evelyn realized what Reiner was doing. The arm held in his grasp was ripped off and thrown, her other arm slashed at him, but he grabbed that one as well and sent it straight through her neck and out the back as well. Reiner turned and attempted to run towards Eren and Mikasa, but he yelled something at him and titans swarmed him and Bertholt.

Evelyn's human form was dangling from the back of her titan as it had begun dissipating, her eyes weren't even open yet and she was still connected by the muscles of the titan, if not by a thread. She just hung there in her shock and pain, as tears fell from her closed eyes. She craned her neck just in time to see Reiner and Bertholt swarmed by titans, not long after Jean swooped in and grabbed her. "Don't be doing that nasty shit anymore." He scolded and she couldn't help the broken laugh that escaped her lips. Not long after she clutched herself to him and began crying as he landed by his horse.

She clung to him, sobbing until she could no longer voice her sorrows. He barely managed to get her on the horse before she clung to him like a scared child. "I… I can't do this anymore…" she sobbed and sadness clung to his being. "Not even for Marco?" he asked and she froze, her tears didn't stop, but her anger didn't resurface either. "You can't quit on me, not now, not while I need your help." He said as he rushed to catch up with the rest of the group.

"Not while we are all counting on you." He said and all thoughts of quitting vanished, with no trace left in her mind. "Thank you Jean. I needed that…" she whispered as they rushed to get caught up with Levi and the others. He nodded, but his smirk didn't return to his lips. He couldn't form that smirk, not while the dreadful feeling encompassed him completely. Not while the god awful feeling that he was going to lose Evelyn nagged at his being.

His eyes drifted to her as she clutched to his torso, she looked like she had the same dreadful feeling. He knew it couldn't be good if she felt the same. "Evelyn." He called and she looked at him with a curious look. "Yes Jean?" she asked as she wiped at the remainder of her tears. "Promise me, that… that if anything happens to you, or if you think something is going to happen to you… that you will find a way to tell me. I can't bear not knowing, not like with Marco. I can't handle it." he said and she nodded.

"If I think something is going to happen to me, you and Levi will be the first to know." She said and he nodded, the saddened smile on her lips slightly comforting in a demented sort of way.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Evelyn took a deep breath and four swift hits connected with the dummy in front of her, sending the stuffing from within fluttering to the ground. 'I have to make this count.' She thought briskly as her feet appeared to levitate and her ankle came down on the dummy's neck with a satisfying crack. She stood with her leg in the air, her knee about shoulder height and her ankle pulled in close for a few seconds; just staring at the dummy. Just simply watching it as it crumpled to the ground brokenly, just like her resolve had.

Her thoughts drifted to the current situation, the scouting legion was in deep, and no… not as in deep like they were with Annie. She means really deep this time, as in possible disbandment. Well, that's what they figured was a possible outcome in the near future, they as in Erwin, Levi, Hanji, and Evelyn herself. Evelyn's leg dropped to the ground as her mind cleared of those dreadful thoughts. She knew thinking this way would get her nowhere good.

But she knew… she was in deep as well. She knew she was possibly in deeper than the entire scouting regiment.

She also knew the fact that she had become the Night stalker titan was a wide spread fact now. She saw the looks the other cadets gave her. She saw the ones that her superiors gave her as well, that disgust, the disdain and the hatred… the fear. She wondered if they saw her as a human anymore… more likely than not, they didn't relate her to anything remotely human anymore. She sighed as she turned to the next practice dummy. She felt a presence and a weight on her shoulder. There was no one there, she had already become accustomed to the invisible force that continuously attempted to comfort her.

'Don't fret it, Eve. It isn't your fault, it never was. They can't hold something against you that you had no choice in, or even a clue about. They may hate you now, but once this is over they will see the mistakes they are making.' His voice wasn't hollow, as she had figured it would be. She figured the dead would have that hollow echoing voice that the humans expertly described and feared ghosts would have. "I hope you're right, Marco." She whispered and her hands dropped from their position in front of her face to fall to her sides.

A gentle breeze ruffled her hair and her eyes drifted up to catch a brief glimpse of the tall man with the smug look. 'Don't fret it, as your friend said, they will realize their mistakes.' The quiet man's voice drifted through the air, echoing within her mind. She briefly wondered if any of the other cadets caught glimpses of them, the apparitions of the dead that followed her wherever she went. Every now and again, she would see Petra's caring smile as she wished her luck, Auroro imitating her brother; telling her she was a fool and that she needed to wise up, Gunther smirking at her when she screwed up; as if a reminder that he was still superior to her, she would hear Erd's voice, telling her she needed to get her head in the game when she would zone out.

She would catch glimpses of Franz on the wall, following Hanna, who had gone on to become one of the Garrison cadets. The deceased male followed his lover as if he were still there, watching over her like he always had. Evelyn's lips began to tremble as she thought of the couple, who had been ripped apart in a similar manner as she and Marco had, except she had witnessed Hanna continuously try and revive Franz, who she had known would never breathe again. Despite the fact he was dead, Franz still stared lovingly at Hanna as he followed soundlessly behind her.

Evelyn hadn't even realized she had begun crying until a rough grasp on her shoulder spun her around and snapped out of her daze, allowing her to feel the warm droplets cascading down her cheeks. She saw the flicker of fear and anger on the faces of the deceased that lingered around her. "You are requested for judgment, creature. If those tears aren't real now, they will be when you receive the death sentence." The man said and she wiped her eyes.

"I see, time flies when you're not paying attention to reality…" she whispered and put her wrists behind her back, allowing for the man to put the chilling handcuffs on her wrists. She knew she must look like the hounds of hell had run her over multiple times. Her eyes were ringed in dark black bags, signs she hadn't slept well in the past few days. She wasn't exhausted like she would be before, there wasn't an ounce of exhaustion in her; but it appeared as if there was. She needed to keep the façade of weakness up so they wouldn't restrain her like they had Eren for his trial.

The figured that if she were sleep deprived, she wouldn't put up much resistance. Her dark blue eyes had dulled a bit, but that was only to give the impression of non-resistance. If she had kept the familiar spark in her eyes, she most likely would be tortured until the spark went away. They had already tried to break her once before, but she only smirked and spat in their faces; which had ultimately ended up in her face getting kicked in. It hurt like hell but her face healed faster than they could comprehend. It didn't take as long as Eren's titan had taken to regenerate, but she supposed it was due to this being her real body and not her titan body.

The cold metal binding her wrists was going to be put in a bar to attempt to hold her still. The complacent look that resided on her face hid the victorious twitch that threatened to break on her lips. If anything, they could hurt her… but the unsuspecting fools were not going to kill her. She wouldn't kill them, but she wasn't going to let them kill her either. Connie was smarter than she gave him credit for, which was a bit rude since she considered him a friend now.

She had actually wondered at some point if Armin had been the one to give Connie the idea. The ring under her tongue had belonged to Annie, although she had never wanted to put the thing in her mouth; she'd had no choice. It was either in the mouth or not at all. When the dark haired man in front of her finished his inspection for weapons on her, he turned around long enough for her to reach up and spit the item in her hand from over her shoulder.

The plan was… If they gave the death sentence, she was to use the ring and escape; the personal mission to take out as many of the corrupt as possible as she fled. It was a sick motive, but she knew the military police were among the corrupted. Her eyes caught sight of the newest group of Military police cadets. Marlo, the tall kid with the bowl styled hair stared at her in shock, while the annoying girl who stood beside him stared at her in disgust and fear. That girl always seemed to be laughing about everything, so smirked at the girl, making her jump in surprise.

On the outside, she was confident and seemingly conceited, but on the inside, Evelyn was terrified. She didn't know what was going to happen. She wanted nothing more than to run and hide behind her brother like a fearful child, but he had given her an assignment. She was going to fulfil what her brother was counting on her to do if it came down to it. They attempted to force her into a crouch, but her knees wouldn't give way, she was defying in simplistic means. She was basically telling them that even though they had her cuffed, they were not going to keep her down.

"Get on your knees!" the man growled and attempted to hit her, but she crouched; ducking out of the way of his punch. "I was working on it." she said and he glared at her. "Not fast enough." He spat as she flopped against the floor, moving back to obediently line her cuffs up with the contraption. "Well not everyone can move as fast as you'd like while lacking three days worth of sleep." She sighed as they locked the bar into place. She leaned back against the bar and slid her eyes shut.

Doing so earned a swift kick to her ribs, sending her arching forwards with her jaw slightly agape. She wiped the saliva from her lips onto her knee and turned to look at the man with a half lidded stare. "You can't treat me like you did Eren Yeager, not all titans require the same incentive to turn." She whispered softly and he stared at her in shock before he reared back for another kick but she motioned for her knee with her head, trying to get him to think she could change by biting down anywhere on her body to attempt to sway his attention from her hands.

He lowered his leg and she sighed in relief, her idea had worked, if only for the time being. She briefly noticed that her brother stood in the stands, clutching the banister tightly. So much so that she could clearly see his knuckles were turning white. Her heart sank, she didn't like seeing him this strung up and worried. He looked desperate and fearful and that alone made her feel the same. She began to fret, seeing him so distressed. It wasn't helping her in the slightest as her breathing quickened.

'Had they already decided on what to do with me?' she thought as her lips trembled just the tiniest bit. Hanji looked panicked when her fingers twitched, the spike on the ring jutting out now. Levi's eyes went wide as Hanji grasped his shoulder roughly and ground something out into his ear. He seemed to settle back into his seat beside Erwin, who told her to stand down with his eyes alone. She felt her fear escape her as she slid the spike back into the slot in the ring.

"Evelyn Rivaille, you are here under charges of treason by titan shifting. How do you plea?" the man in the front of the room asked and the room went silent. "I plead innocent of treason, but guilty of titan shifting." She said and he stared at her, it wasn't a stare of hatred or disdain. It wasn't even one of disbelief. It was a completely unbiased stare, which made her wonder about certain things within the higher ups of the small enclosure of humans.

"A reasonable plea." He replied and the courtroom erupted in anger. "Silence!" he commanded and slowly they simmered down. "You do know that… actions speak louder than words do, don't you? Miss Evelyn? He asked and she nodded. "I can prove innocence of treason." She said and he raised a brow. "Exactly how can you prove that?" he asked and she began wiggling out of her right boot. She grabbed the journal with her toes and held it straight up in the air.

"This is my father's journal. It explains everything." She said and the grumpy Military policeman snatched the journal from her and carried it up to the assigned judge, who's name slipped her mind. All she could manage was that she knew it wasn't the same one who had judged Eren. He read through the journal with ease, as if he could fully grasp the concept of the language not many could read. It was in a language her mother had once said was a descent of the orient language.

That confused her as well, since only she, Levi, Hanji, and Mike had been able to read it fluently. They had been asked to translate it for Erwin so he could understand it as well. "I see…" his voice rumbled interestedly. "You were created to save humankind, were you not?" he asked and she made a face but then sighed. "Titan Eve was created to save the human race, I was the one she was born from. I'm her controller. I am in complete control." Evelyn urged, knowing that saying so was a huge gamble since there were a few seconds in which she could lose control if not careful.

"I get it, but what does this have to do with her sentence. You already said she was on death row." One man yelled out and Evelyn dropped her head, that was why Levi was so wound up. She sighed and pulled her head up to look at the scruffy looking judge. "Then do away with me as you so wish, I cannot help you if I do not breathe." She said and he watched her intently. "But, you're death will sign the death of the night stalker as well." He said and she shrugged.

"The Night stalker took me within her body in an attempt to save me from other titans, which probably suggests that if the titan feels the host it threatened…" Evelyn droned off and the man's eyes went wide. "But you said you were in complete control, how could something of the sort be possible?" he asked and Evelyn frowned, but inside she was still grinding her teeth because her fear was consuming her. If she didn't get out of this predicament and fast, she supposed she would lose sanity completely.

"I said I was in control, and I am; but only when I transform myself." She knew what she was saying was a gamble here as well, but today just seemed to be her day for gambles and lies. She knew she wasn't in complete control all the time, but what did she have to lose? If they yelled death at her, she was going to transform, kill them, then run for her life. If they allowed her life… it would probably be full of tests. "Evelyn Rivaille, are you telling me the truth?" He said and Evelyn nodded. "Why wouldn't I tell the truth, sir. This is my own life on the line. Either way if I lie, I'm ending my own existence. If I don't say anything I'm doing the same without words." She said and he nodded.

"I see, you are a very intelligent young woman. You think things thoroughly." He said and she withheld the relieved sigh that threatened to escape. "Court is adjourned, I have made my decision as for what to do with Evelyn Rivaille. Pixis." He called and the bald man offered her a smirk. Evelyn's eyes went wide. The old man winked at her and motioned for her to keep quiet. Her eyes drifted back to the man on the stands, who she now saw the look of greed flash through his eyes.

'No wonder he was so unbiased. The bastard was bribed.' She thought with an internal sigh. Her eyes flickered over to her brother and her commander, who had the same fearful look on his face while the commander was calm. The commander had known, but hadn't informed Levi. They knew that if she were left under the care of the scouts, things would get suspicious. So they had placed her under the supervision of general Pixis, brilliant plan. Although it was treason in its own right, it was brilliant; although she doubted the man on the stand cared what happened to her either way.

She rubbed her wrists as the cuffs were removed. She turned on her heel and followed Levi and Pixis out of the room. "Be careful, young one. There aren't very many out there whom you can pay off." Pixis whispered and she nodded. "Yes sir, and thank you." She said and he smiled at her, although that smile hid his discomfort and worry just barely. "Shadish doesn't hold the death of his brother against you, he still suffers from the loss. But the blame does not rest on your shoulders." He said and Evelyn frowned as she looked at her feet while she trudged forwards.

: - : - : - : - : - :

Eren scrambled to get the small cabin as clean as possible, while Jean and the others didn't do much. Mikasa was fussing at Sasha, who appeared to desperately want to eat the potatoes. Jean sat with his feet propped on the table, a troubled look on his normally cocky face. Sasha grumbled as she carried the crates of potatoes with Connie's help. Historia was helping Eren clean, even if it was ever so slightly. "What is troubling you Jean?" Mikasa asked and he turned to look at her, that embarrassed and uneasy feeling he used to get while talking to her was no longer there.

"Ah… its just that no one has seen Evelyn in… nearly a month now." He sighed and Mikasa nodded. "The night we returned was the last time anyone had seen the last person she was with was you, so naturally we would all be worried." Eren said from across the room where he was dusting with that ridiculous bandana on his head. "You do realize that now that everyone knows she is the Night stalker, they will not go easy on her." Mikasa said and Jean frowned deeper, a saddened feeling burning at the pit of his stomach.

"I know… they will most likely kill her." He said and Mikasa actually looked saddened as well. The entire atmosphere dropped. "I wish you would stop thinking that way. You know that if Evelyn were given the death sentence she was going to escape. The plan will work." Armin said, but his voice betrayed him, he didn't even trust in the plan. "What if... what if she becomes like them?" Jean asked and everyone in the room cringed.

"Then we would know she was in a better place. They would all be in that place together, and someday we would join them and tell them about the outside world." Eren said suddenly and they all turned to look at him. "We can still help them find peace, if we don't give up they will move on." Eren said through gritted teeth. They hadn't even noticed the door had opened until they had seen movement. "Hi, everyone." Evelyn greeted with glistening eyes that shone with fresh tears.

"Eve!" They all exclaimed and she was surrounded within seconds. All of them rushing to hug her, except for Mikasa, Armin, and Jean. Sasha clung to Evelyn as if her life depended on it. the loud potato girl sobbed even louder than she normally did. "We were so worried!" she sobbed loudly, and very noisily sniffled soon after. Connie hugged Evelyn tightly the moment Sasha backed off a bit. Evelyn hugged them back with a soft smile. These were her friends. Historia wasn't as loud or forceful with her hug like Eren had been, nor did she cry like Connie and Sasha were still doing. "Thank goodness you're safe, Evelyn." She said and Evelyn smiled as she hugged the shorter blonde back.

When they had backed away from her, she turned to look at Jean, Armin, and Mikasa. Her gaze became pained and her lips trembled as she removed her hand from over her heart, she knew they had already figured it out, she couldn't hide all the patches after all. "So… this is goodbye." Mikasa said with a saddened glint in her eyes. "We can still be friends… right Evelyn?" Armin asked and Evelyn's lips trembled more as the tears stung at the back of her eyes.

Eren, Sasha, and Connie were completely confused as they watched the others. Historia gasped softly and her hands found her way to her chest, she actually wasn't faking her surprise. "Of course, Armin. I would never abandon my friends." She whispered as her voice crackled with her sadness. "Thank you Evelyn, for keeping your side of the deal." Mikasa said and walked forwards, extending a hand out to the other dark haired girl.

"It was no trouble, I just hope you will do the same for me as a fellow guardian." she said and Mikasa nodded, both sending glances at Jean, who was still silent. It was Evelyn's final plea of protection for him, not that Eren, Sasha, and Connie had realized it yet. Evelyn watched Jean, who stood petrified beside the table. He had made no move to speak or even get close to her. He was frozen in place, the shock coating his features allowing nothing else to escape.

"I guess now is as good a time as any to let you know…" Evelyn began and Jean's brows furrowed as he watched her. "Its always been unconditional. Our friendship, whatever it has become… it's never had any conditions to it. you never had to deal with me when I was angry, you never had to deal with my tears, you never had to actually assist me and Marco. There were no conditions to our friendship. I just wanted to be your friend." She said and his throat went dry and his ability to speak was lost.

"You never had to pick me up when I fell, you never even had to really be there for me. You never had to worry about me, because I wasn't anything special. You hated me at first, but I tried and tried to get you to be my friend. I just wanted to be near you, you never actually had to say anything or help me with anything. I just wanted to be close to you." she said and he was taken aback by her words. She turned and began walking towards the door, and that was when they noticed her jacket had changed.

"You're leaving?" Eren asked and Evelyn froze and clutched her chest lightly, her lips trembling and her shoulders shaking. "Yes, I am leaving." She said softly, her sniffling echoing around them. "Why?" Sasha asked and Evelyn turned to look at her slightly. "Because if I had declined, I wouldn't be here now... It was this or nothing at all." She whispered and the atmosphere of the room fell further. "You will see me, I will be all over the place. And as promised, if something is happening I will send someone to tell you if I'm ok or not. I promise, I will not be one of the unknown. I won't be one of the ones who die without anyone knowing why." She sobbed, shaking her head rapidly.

She was going to continue her ranting, but someone's arms wrapped around her head and pulled her into a hug. She could tell just from the way he smelled, that it was Jean. His grip tightened on her by the second. Her arms wrapped around him as she cried. "You are wrong, Evelyn." He said and she stifled her sobs as much as she could so she could hear him. "I understand that you thing it was unconditional, and in all reality our friendship is such. But without you I never would have made it this far. I don't want you to go, but if we hold you here then we will only be putting all of us at a stalemate. We all need to further ourselves and this is how we are going to do it. I understand you don't want to go to garrison, but it is a must for your survival." He said and she stopped crying completely.

He pulled away from her and grasped her shoulders tightly. "We need you to protect the wall, since we can no longer do so at the moment. You aren't leaving, you will be coming back; you will just be gone for a while, I promise." Jean said in his normal cocky tone and Evelyn smiled through her sadness. "Alright then, its settled. I will be coming back." She said with a grin as Pixis and Levi appeared behind her.

"Time to go, Evelyn, Nico is awaiting your orders." Pixis said with a wink and she nodded with a smile. "Lead away, sir." She said, but not before offering one last look to her friends and her older brother, who all seemed relieved that this was not a permanent goodbye. It didn't stop the hurt any less though, as they watched the roses fade from view.


	7. Chapter 7

'Deep calming breaths, Nico said we needed to keep calm. Another deep breath, ignore their stares. Ignore their hatred, their anxiety of your proximity; the disgust directed at you.' Another deep breath and someone set a hand on her shoulder, Evelyn almost jumped… but the hand was familiar. The small feminine hand was comforting and friendly. Evelyn released her panicked breaths and turned to eye the shorter red haired girl.

"Hanna." Evelyn greeted, removing her calculative blue eyes from the intimidating men around her. They towered over her in stature, so they could glower down at her with those disgusted and hate filled eyes. It wasn't that they were really intimidating; it was just that they were trying to be. It made sense, seeing that she was now known as the titan shifter for the night stalker all over within the walls. "Evelyn, are you alright?" she asked and Evelyn had to conceal the surprise as she rested her hand on her shoulder, where the moment it made contact a ripple of light flickered and she saw Franz smiling. Evelyn forced a small smile and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just a bit on edge, seeing as though it seems like everyone wants my head on a pike as of late…" she sighed and Hanna smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure you will be perfectly fine, we do have to get back to training, no doubt General Pixis will be disappointed in us should we slack off." Hanna said with a small smile and Evelyn snorted loudly, causing the shorter girl to look at her in surprise. "Huh? What is it?" she asked and Evelyn stifled her amusement, albeit not very well.

"My brother doesn't take slackers very well. They usually end up running until they can no longer walk, have stable duty for the next few months, or he uses more… physical means of punishment." Evelyn said and Hanna looked shocked. "Now, my brother has only the best intentions for us, but he can't stand those who don't pull their own share. Seems I was wrong about him all throughout training." Evelyn said with a joyful glimmer in her eyes and Hanna smiled.

"It seems as much, well, I have to get back to my training, I will talk to you later, alright?" she said and Evelyn nodded as she watched the smaller red head skip away happily. Evelyn could tell that she wasn't as happy as she appeared, nor was she as happy as she used to be. She was still happy but in a different sense now, she wasn't outwardly happy; she was inwardly and it showed with her movements and eyes. She knew he was watching over her, basically. That was the happiness she held, knowing he was still there.

Evelyn sighed and began searching for a sparring partner. Hanna was across the dusty plot of land smacking away another girl's sloppily thrown hits. Evelyn sighed and looked around. She didn't know anyone but Nico and Hanna. Nico was currently assisting in a new batch of recruited cadet's training. Her lips twitched in annoyance as she stared at the older male, he struck a painful resemblance to Marco and she now knew why. He was Marco's older cousin, the one who had joined a year before him and had told him that he should join the military police.

No doubt Nico knew about how she had adored his cousin, since Marco had been sending an abundance of letters to his cousin while in the training facility. Nico glanced at her and before he could get the words of warning out, Evelyn heard the ruffling of clothing and she ducked down and around the person's arm; only to grab them with one hand on their forearm, and the other reaching the crook of his elbow yank him forwards, swipe his legs out from under him, and drop both elbows down on his back sending him sprawling unceremoniously to the ground with a loud oomph.

Nico's jaw was agape and Evelyn glared down at the man she had just sent to eat dirt. "Stupid bitch." He grumbled as he stood. Evelyn stared at him with expressionless eyes. "Isn't that foul play? Attacking someone when their back is turned?" Nico scolded and the man snorted in arrogance. "Not when the bitch eats people for a living." He sneered and she glanced dully at him. "Does it look like I eat people? Do you honestly think I would develop a hunger for human? Am I that much of a monster that you would try and kill me? I want to know… do you think you could kill me if you tried?" she asked, closing the distance between them at a swift pace.

The man had fear flicker through his eyes as she gained on him. "Get away from me." he growled and she raised a brow. "Do you fear me that much? Is this what I have become for the sake of humanity? A creature created to save the ones who hate me most? Sometimes I ask myself… why bother? Why even try to save you ungrateful sons a' bitches!? But then…" Evelyn sighed and stepped away from the fearful man with a small sigh. She then slowly turned to face the wall, her hand reaching up and gently grasping for the blinding image of the sun in her empty hands.

"But then… I remember that there are those who are counting on me. They are counting on me to show them the way." She said as she pulled her hand from the sky and pulled it against her chest. Her eyes softening as she opened her still empty palm. "I will not fail them; I will lead them to the freedom they so desperately desired… I will not be a disappointment." Evelyn whispered longingly as she looked up at the puffy clouds that hung in the sky.

"It's sick." The man said as he turned on his heel and walked away from her. Evelyn brushed his anger towards her off, he didn't know what she meant and nor did he care. But the ones surrounding her, albeit invisible until the random flicker of their appearance makes their presence known to her; they understood completely. They gave her some morbid sense of comfort, knowing they were there; it made her feel as if she weren't alone, although in reality she knew she was. She wondered if in all reality she was becoming delusional…

Hanna was going to distance herself further, although her kindness still showed Evelyn knew she feared the older dark haired girl. It was understandable that the younger girl would fear her, so far the only ones who hadn't truly feared her were the scouts, but that was only because they knew her limitations and motives. These people on the wall, they knew nothing of her. They didn't care to learn her limitations, nor did they care to try to understand what her motives were.

She had been with them for a week now and all they did was ridicule her and Eren. Nico hadn't stopped her when she knocked the daylights out of one guy who dared speak badly of Eren in front of her. It wasn't like she liked the younger male in any sort of manner other than sibling-like, but she knew if Mikasa were here, she would have done the same thing. Evelyn turned, gave one last longing glance at the wall, then turned on her heel and strolled towards the place she called her home, but before she went home she had another stop to make.

She knew that making this stop would leave her travelling home alone in the dark, but she didn't mind. This was important to her because she had to know, even if what she sought out couldn't speak. Even if they couldn't beg plead or tell their story, Evelyn wanted to know. She was curious as to why…

She ducked down the alleyway and slipped into the now abandoned scout regiment residence. Everyone was in the capital at the moment so no one would be here to stop her from doing what she was attempting. Evelyn reached the doorway and her hand hesitantly brushed over the dusty old oak door. It creaked as she shoved the heavy thing open, just as the stairs creaked as she gently placed her feet upon them. Step by step she could see the dim blue glow emanating from the crevice under the door getting a bit brighter. And all the while that light got brighter Evelyn's fear of the dark tried creeping to the surface, she now understood why titans didn't go underground.

When she reached the bottom step she brushed uneasy fingers over the second dusty old oak door, pushing in on it lightly. The door creaked open and she walked over to the young woman crystallized in the bluish diamond like crystal. Evelyn took slow steps forward this time, unlike last time where she had lashed out at the blonde woman she was going to be careful this time not to destroy her arm like she had the last time.

Evelyn frowned as she looked at the exterior of the crystal itself, her blood was still there but it was still liquidized. It wasn't congealed or crusted in the slightest, like she thought it would be. This brought about questions that she wasn't sure how to answer. Her fingers dappled in the blood puddle and her brows furrowed. The blood was still warm just as it had been when Evelyn had beaten her fist to a pile of blood, bones, and flesh.

Her brows furrowed as she thought this new finding over, then her eyes widened in horrified curiosity. "Is it possible…" she began and looked back at the crystal with calculative eyes. "Is it possible you are still alive in there Annie?" Evelyn asked as she stared at the blonde within. Her hands were folded over her chest as if embracing her chest like she was in terrible sorrow. Her eyes were still shut, but the tears she had shed were still there and clearly visible.

Evelyn brought her hand to her heart then placed one on the crystal. "You can feel my heartbeat, can't you Annie?" Evelyn asked feeling for reverberations from within the crystal, but received none. Evelyn frowned and removed her hand from the exterior of the crystal. "Perhaps you're not alive… perhaps you can't tell me why you had to do what you did… I'm still going to wonder, even if you can tell me someday or not. I understand you had no choice in the matter now. That's about as much as I could grasp from Bertholt and Reiner." Evelyn said softly, as if expecting a reaction.

"You can tell me Annie, whether it be now or in the future. If you are still alive… I will understand… I am something like you after all… I'm a titan too… so is Ymir…" Evelyn whispered as she slowly turned away from the crystal. "I will understand, because I want to help save you from this awful cruel burden you, Bertholt, and Reiner carry upon your shoulders. I want nothing more than to know why… and to know who would make you do this to yourself. I'd imagine you're lonely, aren't you Annie?" Evelyn asked and took one last glance behind her at the blonde before she sighed and gently pulled open the door to the staircase.

"Goodbye for now Annie, I will come see you tomorrow, I know what it's like to be alone now. I was forced away from my friends too…" Evelyn said as she slowly trudged her way up the stairs. She wasn't quite sure when she had begun to sympathize with the female titan, or more so why she had begun to do so… but the smile she saw flicker on Marco's face strengthened her resolve that she was doing the right thing in trying to figure out why the stoic blonde had done what she had done.

Evelyn sighed and rubbed the back of her head as she exited the scout residence castle. She took one last glimpse at the wonderful place before she felt the nostalgia hit along with the familiar faces. She bit her lip and ducked back through the alleyway she had forced herself through in order to get to the castle. Her thoughts drifted to her small abode and she wanted nothing more than to get there as fast as she could.

It wasn't much, but it was all she could afford. It was nearest to the wall and had been abandoned when Trost almost fell the first time. No one wanted to live near the wall anymore, it was too risky. Her footsteps were the only ones she heard as she trekked down the dark alleyway. Her gear clinked loudly, the noise echoing off the surfaces of the buildings that surrounded her. Her eyes cut to her left, upon the top of the building there was a man, he was trying to be sneaky.

She continued walking as if she hadn't noticed the man, but she ever so carefully watched his every movement. He was not going to get the drop on her if his motive was to attempt to end her life. She knew it was dangerous, living in a small house this close to Trost's inner wall. No one lived within wall rose except for the Garrison. Everyone else had been evacuated to the undergrounds of Sina. As the silence continued to consume her, she tried her hardest to listen for the heavier footsteps she knew would come from the man's feet, she even attempted to listen for the chinking of the metal gear as he walked.

She heard nothing, there wasn't a sound that emanated from him. No one she knew moved that silently, and it was making her uncomfortable. She could tell the man was older than she was, she could tell this by his stature and the way he held himself. Her eyes narrowed and she glanced at the reflection of him in the glass of an unbroken window nearest him. She could make out a trench coat, some sort of fedora style hat, and a glimmer of metal.

Her eyes narrowed then went wide as the metal item he was hiding in his coat was revealed a bit more. It was a gun, not like the ones the Military police carried; it was much smaller and easier to conceal. Her eyes narrowed to slits and her heart began to race, what was she scared for? She could heal whatever he threw at her… right? Well she certainly hoped she would be able to do so… she stopped when she heard his feet touch gently on the cobblestone street.

"I assume you're here to kill me… are you not?" Evelyn asked, her eyes becoming saddened. She knew that everyone pretty much hated her for what she had become, but she also knew that they were not going to show her any sympathy because it was unintentional. She held up her hands in defeat, not wanting to have to heal multiple gunshot wounds. She tilted her head back gently to see the older man circling her. "Assuming you're worth it or not." he said, his voice was deep and sounded familiar. A name flickered in her mind and she scrunched her nose to try and grasp the concept of it, but it slipped away just as fast as it had shown itself.

He was about a foot taller than she was, she realized as he circled in front of her. He had a disgusting smirk on his face as he used his gun to tilt he chin up so he could get a better look at her. "Ah… I see." He muttered as he leaned in close to her and whiffed at her neck, she repressed the disgusted sneer that threatened to free itself upon her lips. "How old are you now… Evelyn?" he asked and she scrunched her nose before she could stop herself.

"18, why do you ask… Kenny?" she asked and a wicked grin spread over his lips as he flicked his hat up to look at her better. His name had come easily to her now, how could she forget the man who made her think she was the reason her parents were dead. She had found the page before the last, the one telling her that Kenny was coming after them and they'd had to hide her away. Her father had written it before they had actually known their lives were going to be lost.

"You've grown to be a lovely young woman, such a shame I had to chase your father away, and kill your mother… they would have loved to see how… enticing you have become." He said and she glared at him dully. "Ah ah ah. Don't speak. I'm not after you, not yet. Perhaps some members of the scouting legion maybe, but not you dearest; your time will come soon enough." He said condescendingly; his voice taunting her and her helplessness in this situation. Her mind was not completely focused though, she was still hung up on the words that confused her… what had he meant by that?

He circled around behind her and before she could turn to look at him, a bright flash of light flooded her vision; then she felt him grasp her by her hair. Her eyes fluttered as she tried to keep herself conscious, but her struggle ended when her face smacked roughly against the cobblestone walkway. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him walking away, a small shining object in the center of something he was holding tenderly, as if it were special.

The pain barely registered in her mind anymore, but the darkness was overwhelming. Her eyes fluttered shut as she heard him chuckling darkly as he strolled away. She succumbed to the darkness, which kept the pain at bay. She welcomed it, knowing she was going to live another day. Tears streaked over her cheeks as a slow grateful smile crossed her lips. 'thank you… for letting me see another day…' she thought as the darkness finally consumed her completely.

:-:_:-:

Her eyes fluttered open the next morning, the sun shining brightly in the corner of her eye. She carefully shoved herself off the ground and looked down at herself. She wasn't filthy, but she wasn't clean either. Her pants had smudges of dirt on the upper thighs, her boots were scuffed slightly, and her shirt had a few long black strands clinging to the soft fabric. She choked on her breath as she reached up and felt where the chunk of hair had been cut from.

She ran over to a window and stared at her reflection, she sighed in relief as she noticed the chunk of hair that as cut, wasn't visible. Her brow furrowed and she ran her fingers over the small area. Why had he removed her hair? A token of some sort? A… a claim on a kill? She didn't know and she didn't want to either. All she was worried about was getting back up to her station on the wall. She ran towards the wall, where she had caught a glimpse of the ones there awaiting her arrival.

She glanced over at the sun's position and sighed in relief, it was still quite early; seeing as the sun had yet to begin to rise from the horizon. She slowed her pace, seeing that she wasn't going to be late for her post. She rubbed the back of her head, where Kenny had whacked her with his revolver… or so the weapon had appeared to be. There was nothing left of the injury, so she was fine. She pondered upon his words as she neared the wall.

Her eyes stared blankly into the cobblestone walkway beneath her feet as she walked, her mind not leaving the current subject. What had he meant by chased her father off? She shook her head and sighed, she had watched them burn her father's corpse not even an hour after she had watched them burn her mother's; although as a child she hadn't remembered it. She supposed she had enough mental scarring to deal with that she had simply forgotten. She regretted reading the horrid journal entry now… the moment she had read through it the first time, flickers of faces and objects had begun flooding her mind.

She couldn't shake the feeling that she had forgotten who she truly was at some point, and that scared her. Was that what Levi had meant by her personality had changed? She frowned as she readied her gear. She looked up to the wall, shot off her wires and pulled herself up the wall. When she reached the top her heart clenched painfully. Maybe she should have waited for Nico or Hanna to show up… there was a reason she hadn't shown up early these past two weeks… and now she realized exactly why she had chosen to be nearly late than be exceptionally early.

The group of men on the wall eyed her with dangerous eyes. Her eyes widened as she reached up and felt the spot where her hair had been haphazardly chopped off; it was the exact place she had tied the ring into her hair to keep it hidden. She mentally cursed herself now, he had known the entire time. Her eyes drifted up to meet the eyes of the men who surrounded her. She tried to back away from them, but an awful searing pain shot through her shoulder and her eyes watered.

She had only felt pain like this once before, when the titan had bitten her arm off while she was chasing after Reiner and Bertholt. "W-why?" she asked clutching the bloody stump that wasn't steaming, it wasn't healing, and it didn't feel like it was going to make any attempt to do so. "Monsters don't live within the walls, they die outside of them just as well as inside of them. There is no sanctuary for a monster such as yourself." One man spat at her. She bit her lip in agony as she clutched the bloody stump that had once been her arm.

Blood leaked from between her fingers and she began to feel dizzy, that didn't mean she was going to give up though. Levi's annoyed glare flickered through her mind, then Jean's cocky smirk flashed through her mind as well and she choked back a sob. She didn't want this, she didn't want to die. She grabbed for the arm that lay on the ground, dodging another paring blade as she did so. She yanked the sleeve off the arm that had been removed. She latched her teeth onto one part while she wrapped and tied a knot in the cloth to attempt and slow the bleeding.

She ejected the blade from one of her handles and she bit down on the handle, her tongue reaching for the trigger as she turned away from the wall. She jumped and flipped in midair to eject the wires into the wall so she could skid down the wall without killing herself. She wasn't expecting one of them to be carrying a gun… that was a mistake on her part. Her swift thinking is all that had saved her. She ejected her blade back into the holster and she swung herself back up the wall at them, they wouldn't shoot while she was surrounded by others… would they?

Her feet just barely grasped the wall before she had retracted her wires and lurched forwards, knocking the ones nearest her down. She then proceeded to take off running, dodging other garrison cadets with expert agility. Any of the cadets that lunged for her were met with her ramming them with her good shoulder. 'Keep running! You have to run faster!' "Evelyn Rivaille!" Evelyn heard his voice as she had managed to jump upon a few items then manage a back hand spring over the three men blocking her path.

He sounded shocked, which made her look up briefly. Dot Pixis stood at the starting point of where the men had attacked her. Her eyes narrowed briefly before she frowned and she glanced over the wall before she spun to the left of one of the cadets trying to catch her. They weren't obeying Pixis, no matter how much he yelled for them to stop. Evelyn eyed the old man before she reached the area where the inner wall from Trost broke off to curve around towards Maria.

"Tell them… I'm sorry…" she said before she narrowly dodged one of the cadet's blades, but getting caught by another one's blade as it cut the tendons in her underarm, causing it to fall limply to her side as she ran. She ducked under blades that swung at her with very little skill, the cuts and nicks were adding up and slowing her down, they seemed to have noticed this too. She grit her teeth and her eyes went wide as she tripped and rolled a few feet. She glared over at her left arm, which had reformed nearly to her elbow in the past fifteen minutes she had been fighting them off.

She rolled to her feet and lunged towards the man who had run at her. She swiftly jumped and swung her body weight into a forceful kick that sent the man sprawling to the ground. He struggled to regain his footing as she landed and ran right past him without sparing him a second glance. She continued to run, tuning out their angered yells, tuning out Pixis' screams for them to stop. She was attempting to tune out her fear, but it was crippling her.

Her fear was making her tears burn at her eyes, her heart race, her feet struggle to keep grip and her throat clench as tight as her chest was. Her fear was making it hard to breathe and if she could see her fingers or let alone move the five of them she had, they would most likely either be fumbling, twitching, or rubbing at her eyes. She had never been this frightened in her life, not that she could remember half of it either way, but she was still scared.

A scream from behind her stopped her from running once more. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, her line of sight flickering towards the red haired girl in the man's grasp. He had a paring blade at her neck. She bared her teeth and turned to the man with a feral sneer adorning her lips. "You would sacrifice a human, an innocent fifteen year old girl; no less, to get me? You make me sick! How can you call yourself human?!" Evelyn sneered and he rolled his eyes. "You do what you have to." He said simply and Evelyn's eyes drifted down towards the fear filled younger woman.

The slow steam halted immediately from her right arm, and instead hissed from the tendons from her left arm in the underarm. Evelyn stood up from her slouched over position and straightened out her posture. "It sickens me how a monster such as myself, has more morals than a human who claims to want to give his heart for humanity." Evelyn spat and Hanna's eyes never left hers. "I'm done playing games, I need to get the hell out of here. But I refuse to let a monster like you hurt Hanna!" She spat and rushed at the man holding Hanna. The man released Hanna swiftly, but not of his own accord. Hanna scrambled away from the man as he coughed up blood.

"I… I don't regret killing you." Evelyn said as she pulled her paring blade from his side. Evelyn turned to Hanna, who flinched at the older female's approach. "Tell Jean, that when this is over and they have captured me. I want him and Levi… to take my life." Evelyn said as she turned and ran once more, but not before one of the more skilled Garrison soldiers sent a blade flying at Evelyn. She looked back to see it coming at her, but made no move to dodge. The blade pierced her side and she hit the ground.

"We have her! Proceed with caution!" one man yelled. "I said stop!" Pixis yelled once more, but they ignored and advanced on Evelyn, who was forcing herself to her feet. Albeit slowly, she was getting there; she pulled herself to her feet and turned to face them as she backed up against the edge of the wall. Blood trickled from between her lips as she stumbled backwards. "You bastards… need to learn to listen to commanding officers." She managed to say through the pain as she felt her foot tap the edge of the wall.

She pulled the blade from her abdomen and watched as her forearm began reforming, slowly but it was working on forming as fast as she could get it to form. She sighed as the back of her foot tapped the edge, it made her realize just how alone she really was. There was no one up here that could help her, in all reality. The twenty something cadets that were trying to kill her… well there was one more but she had ended his disgusting immoral life quite swiftly when he had threatened to hurt Hanna.

She sighed as they began closing in. The adrenaline rush that had been fueling her was fading away and she was starting to feel exactly how bad she was hurting. She had injured her ankle some time ago when she had attempted to scale down the wall. Her eyes went wide as she heard the first shot, the bullet lodged itself in her shoulder and she screamed out in agony. She hunched over forwards as she clutched her right shoulder. "Tell them… I'm their responsibility." Evelyn said and stared at her hand for a few seconds. Her blood stained her pale hand and she swiftly brought it up to her lips and bit down roughly despite Pixis yelling for her to stop.

Nothing happened when she bit down and her eyes began to water. "I'm going to die here…" she sobbed, but then that refreshing aura of kindness washed over her and she took a deep breath. She pictured it vividly in her mind, she was running away from the wall in titan form, trying to save herself. Then she bit down once more, but still nothing happened. She grit her teeth and yelled out in anger. One cadet lunged for her and she whirled on him and sent a swift uppercut to his jaw, sending a cracking sensation down her arm and sending him to the ground unmoving.

Her eyes were wide in horror as the man's face looked disfigured. She took two steps away from where he lay in a crumpled heap, her soundless cries of regret and her tears trailing behind her. There was nothing to stop her now as she sent herself plummeting over the wall. The feeling of his jaw crumbling under her hit chilled her to the core, she really was a monster… she stifled her cries as she fell; the reality of what she had done hitting her like a ton of bricks.

Steam burst around her the moment she reached her broken hand towards her gear's trigger. She felt the impact of her titan hitting the ground. She was small, so the impact was painful to her. After about fifteen minutes, her titan was able to stand and it dropped the crystalline sheen that covered her nape. Cadets had already begun descending the walls so she stood to her full height and turned on them. She wasn't very tall, but she wasn't the nine to ten meter she would transform into first. She supposed she was twelve to thirteen meter at the moment, which she believed was her maximum height.

"Stay back!" she yelled at them and a few of them backed away in fear, while the others who were more intent on placing her head on a pike moved closer. She slammed her fists into the wall, shaking some of their wires free and sending them falling. They turned their attention away from her for a moment to secure their wires back to the wall. "I don't want to hurt you! I've hurt enough… I've hurt humanity enough… please… back off!" she screeched but one managed to swing back around behind her and Evelyn's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits.

She spun swiftly, grabbing his wires and spinning slightly to send him flying back up towards the wall. Another cadet swooped around and grabbed him and landed back on the wall. She really didn't want to hurt them, but they weren't seeing this. Inside she was hurting more than she had ever hurt before. Two men lay dead atop the wall, both lost their lives by her hand. What if they'd had family?

She didn't try and hurt any more of them, instead her jaws split open and she leaned forwards and screeched angrily at them in a second attempt to get them to back off. When her screeches didn't work, she scratched at the wall with her claws as they formed and screamed louder. This got them motivating themselves back up the wall. Evelyn then turned and ran, letting her claws de-crystallize from her hands. 'Titan Eve… take me somewhere safe please…' Evelyn asked softly within her mind and the titan's eye color began to fade. Titan Eve stopped running after it crossed over the moat in between wall rose and Maria.

"Some… Somewhere… safe." Titan Eve murmured as she descended on all fours and began sniffing around. "Safe place…" she muttered. "Safe?"

"Home… home is safe… but… Eve has no home… not with them…"

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

In the week after Evelyn had joined the Garrison a lot had happened. Jean sighed as he pulled the cloak tighter around his shoulders and nudged at the hat that sat deftly upon his head. Eren was gone and so was Historia, they had made a mistake and the military police had found out. Sasha and Connie sat behind him on bales of hay in the same commoner get up that he was wearing. They couldn't wear their uniforms because the military police was out to get them. They only had a picture of Levi, and everyone already knew what Erwin looked like so the rest of them were safe for the moment being.

Jean sighed and looked around outside the small building towards the wall. There seemed to be a commotion up there, but there was no way he was going to go up there. He could just barely see the people running up there since he was so far away but it looked like they were chasing someone. He shrugged and supposed that some thief or something had made it to the wall and was attempting to escape. The thought stuck and he furrowed his brows, that didn't sound right in the slightest.

He strolled out of the building, despite Levi's request to stay there. He walked at a leisurely pace towards the wall leading to Trost's inner wall from his side. He was going to remain on the ground as to not arouse suspicion. It wasn't like he could get on the rooftop either way he grumbled in irritation. "Jean." Ah, there was Levi… "What are you doing?" he grumbled and Jean sighed. Levi wasn't much nicer now than he had been before they had become a team. He turned and faced his superior.

"I was going to get a better look at what's going on at the wall…" he said and Levi cringed. "I… I already know what's going on." Levi said and gave Jean a look. "You should already know as well, if you are smart." Levi said and turned to face away from the wall. "What?!" Jean snapped and Levi looked at him over his eyes held a sadness that froze Jean from the inside out. "It would do you good to keep calm, kid." Levi said and Jean's brows furrowed his eyes squeezed shut in anger.

"How can I keep calm if she is up there all by herself! What are they doing to her?!" he ground out, his fists clenching against his sides. "They are trying to kill her." Levi said calmly and anger engulfed Jean's entire being. "They are trying to kill her and you're so calm!? Do you not understand that she may die?!" Jean snapped and whirled on his superior. Levi stared up at the taller male with blank eyes, but soon enough curiosity flickered through his eyes.

"They are trying to kill us too, have you not noticed this? They want us dead as well, do you disregard your life that much that you would expose yourself to save the one person who doesn't need saving? He asked and Jean looked at him oddly. "Not at his point in time anyways." Levi said as he shifted his weight from his left foot to his right one. "You realize she can handle herself… don't you? You also know that she is just as hard headed as I am and if they try and kill her she won't go down without a fight." Levi said and turned completely away from Jean, who stared at the older, yet shorter, male in angered confusion.

"She cares for you." Levi said simply and Jean jerked his head up to stare at the halted form of his superior. "I don't understand why, but she was willing to give her life if it meant they kept you out of their torture." Jean was stunned into silence, he hadn't heard anything of that. Levi glanced back at him from over his shoulder, a dark gleam in his eyes as he spoke once more. "They were going to pretty much cut you to pieces right in front of her to get her to break down…"

A disgusted look crossed Jean's face and he glared at the military policemen that ran by to head towards the wall. A smirk tugged at Levi's lips as he laughed a victorious laugh. "Ah, I wonder what she has done to warrant their attention…" Levi said as he turned to glance fully at the wall. Jean blinked and turned that direction as well. You could just barely see the cadets on the wall standing there, as if in shock, and then they jumped off the wall one by one.

That was then they heard the screeches. Jean didn't smirk like he normally would have, instead his lips were downturned and his eyes slid closed as he fisted his hands at his side. He turned on his heel and began walking away from Levi, who smirked and turned to follow him. "She knows what she is doing, Jean. Even if we aren't sure what she is doing, she should have a plan already. She is a brilliant lady anyways…" Levi said confidently and Jean looked back at him, slowing his long swift strides to glance at the corporal with worried eyes.

"That's kind of what I'm worried about. What if she doesn't know what she was doing? What if she ran and jumped without thinking?" Jean asked and Levi raised a brow, tapped his chin in thought then shrugged a single shoulder. "Then she will find somewhere safe, and form a plan to re enter the wall; unless she finds a way to sneak in sooner." Levi said simply and Jean tried to calm himself down a bit, Evelyn did promise him that she wouldn't leave, so maybe she would find her way back.

Jean nodded and followed Levi back to the small building that Connie and Sasha were sitting at. "Sir, Jean!" Sasha greeted and Levi nodded, Jean just staring at his hands. "It's Evelyn…" Levi began and silenced himself when he saw a familiar shadow behind him. He turned to see Erwin and Pixis standing there, their faces grim. "Commander, general." Levi greeted and they both nodded at him. "How much damage has she done?" that was all Levi asked, that was all he wanted to know at the moment.

"Forgive me. I tried to stop them, there were too many of them and not one of them would obey my commands." Pixis said his thumb and fore finger of his left hand fiddling desperately with the lid of his flask. He was trying his hardest not to down the entire thing it appeared… "Two are dead, Levi. One died because he had grabbed one of the 104th graduates and threatened her life. The other lost his life because he and Evelyn both underestimated her physical strength." Erwin said and Levi nodded, his eyes never once leaving the commander's.

"She is alive?" Jean asked and Erwin turned to look at him for the first time in slight shock, as if he hadn't noticed him there before. "You…" Erwin began with furrowed brows, as if trying to place where he had seen the younger male before that had struck him as odd. "You are Jean, the one who posed as Eren not once but twice… but more importantly… you were the one to revert her to her state of control each time she would lose out." Erwin said and Jean nodded stiffly.

"I'm her friend, the closest one she has. When she returns I want to-" Jean began and Erwin's eyes widened then fell. The broken look of one who had te reveal bad news. His eyes were down cast and they slid off to the side just so he could no longer see Jean in the slightest. "Jean Kirchstien, Levi Rivaille…" Pixis began and both of their eyes narrowed dangerously. "If Evelyn Rivaille returns, then this duty is placed upon the two of you." Pixis began, waiting to see what sort of reaction he would get from the two.

"Evelyn Ackerman, Might I correct myself…" he began once more and Jean's eyes went wide as Levi grit his teeth and looked away. "As her older brother, and her most trusted friend… You two are to end her life. The moment she returns she has asked us to allow you two to end her life, if she does not end it outside the walls. Hanna was going to be the bearer of bad news, but I took it upon myself and the commander did the same." Pixis said and Levi was glaring at the ground for a moment.

Jean was trying his hardest to be strong, but it truly was hard. "Evelyn Rivaille Ackerman… will not perish by my hand, nor shall she perish by the hand of any other man. My sister will not fall by my hand nor will we allow her to." Levi said and the two commanding officers stared at him in surprise. Jean frowned at the taller men. "Evelyn has many regrets, many secrets, but more than anything she could ever regret… is making us live without her. She promised she would help lead us to freedom. How can she do that if she is not alive? How can she do anything if she does not breathe. Her words are not to-" Jean began but Erwin frowned deeper.

"Evelyn thought she was going to die, she couldn't transform into titan Eve. So she jumped, it was only by chance that she is alive now. So before you two go on and force yourselves to believe her words were a morality boost, think. Has Evelyn ever really stabilized herself from the death of her friend Marco? You both know more than anyone that if you say she had, you'd be lying. You both know it. so let it sink in, let her words fill your minds. And maybe then granting her this peace of mind and soul will be of your best interest." Erwin said, his voice even.

"She was scared… she would never…" Jean growled out and Erwin frowned at the younger male. "I understand you care deeply for her, being her closest friend and all, but have you ever killed a human being? Let alone two, you do not have countless deaths on your hands. Titan Eve slaughtered anyone who attacked her, and Evelyn set her free; so how do you think she feels? I'm pretty damn sure she feels hollow inside. I'm also pretty damn sure she wants nothing more than to give in and stop trying because she knows the more she tries to forget what she has done… the more she will remember." Erwin snapped and Jean stared at him blankly.

Levi looked the slightest bit defeated, but Jean wasn't going to give in yet. "Is that what you feel, commander? Are you ready to give in? Are you ready to admit you killed thousands and give up? Is that why you are trying so hard to get me to realize that there may be a deep regret eating away at her? Because there is that regret eating away at you? I know her a lot better than you do. The most you did up until recently was make jokes or stare at her ass. I listened to her words, I listened to her bleeding heart. I mourned with her. I've gotten people killed before as well, their deaths haunt me every day. But there is one thing keeping me from giving in, commander. That is that fact I saved more lives than I lost that day." Jean snapped and Erwin was caught off guard.

"I know what it is like to be a leader, and that is not something I liked being. I didn't like that whatever I told them to do, those other cadets would do just that, especially if it gave them a fifty-fifty chance at surviving. I never wanted to be a leader, but two people made me realize that it was what I needed to be. Evelyn and Marco, those two were my closest friends and one of them is dead. I'm not going to let her die as well. Not even if she asks for it. I understand fully that while she is outside the walls there is nothing I can do, but inside the walls I can make damn sure that if she returns home the event on the wall will not happen again." Jean snapped angrily and Connie slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Calm down horse face!" Connie scolded and Jean ripped his friend's hand from over his mouth. "You will get yourself in trouble!" Connie said and a chuckle reverberated from Pixis' chest. "You've got spunk and potential." Erwin said, offering a small prideful smile before it fell once more. "But spunk and potential aren't going to get us anywhere at the moment. We still have to save Eren and Historia because Hanji believes that Reiss wants nothing more than to eat Eren and take the ability to control titans from him." Erwin said and Jean looked up at him in shock.

"What? How did she come across that observation?" Connie asked and Erwin frowned. "Reiner was throwing titans at Eren, seemingly so they would eat him and they would have an easier titan to return to wherever they were coming from." Erwin said and Jean's lips twitched into a smirk. "This was what Evelyn was looking for… a reason for why they wanted Eren. It seems we have it now, we just don't have Evelyn. She would want to investigate further on why they wanted his ability." Jean sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

"You only brag about Evelyn so much because you have a crush on her." Connie sighed and Jean glared at him. "I was actually being serious." Jean growled and Connie nodded. "So was I." Jean was about to say something else to him, but Levi stomped on his foot and he released a string of curses. "Now is not the time for childish games. You three go meet up with Mikasa and Armin, we have things to do and questions to answer. Get going." Levi sighed and turned to speak with the commanding officers in private.

"Evelyn will have to be dealt with in some way, Levi. Whether that boy realizes it or not, the longer she is the host of that titan, the longer she will be in danger. If you can separate the two once more, perhaps they will let her off with a lighter sentence, should she return. Self defense isn't a crime you know." Pixis said lowly, trying not to catch too much attention from the retreating group of teens. "Self defense is a criminal act when you are a titan shifter, but should she be human once more…" Pixis droned off.

Erwin didn't exactly agree with what the elder man was hinting at, but if they wanted Evelyn alive then they needed to be able to prove that she was no longer the night stalker. "Just how do you suppose we do that, she is out there, while we are in here. I don't believe she will be willing to return to the ones who made an attempt on her life so swiftly. I believe she would wait for a while longer before she decided to return, who knows maybe she could study the titans while she was out there, give us some more insight on how they function." Levi offered as he turned away from the two men, but not before catching Pixis' last remark.

"If Evelyn can prove to find useful information, we will keep it hidden from the capital until we are sure that the right king is crowned, or… in our case… Queen."

:-:-:_:-:-:

Evelyn sighed as her eyes fluttered open, outside the wall was much different than she had ever thought it would be. There were flowers of all sorts, shapes, and colors. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Petra flicker about the field her ghostly hands touching the colorful flowers and blowing them slightly. She was sitting under a tree in the middle of the field, her knees pulled to her chest as she watched the ghostly woman have her fun with the vast expanse of flowers.

Evelyn's arms wrapped around her knees and pulled them closer to her chest. Her forehead rested upon the dirty cloth covering her knees. Her stomach growled painstakingly and she repressed a whimper. "I'm so hungry…" she whispered into her knees. The wind was blowing her hair every which direction and she was getting fed up with it. She ripped the strip of cloth off from around the ankle of her pants and she used the white fabric to tie her hair into a ponytail.

She stood and began searching through the vast expanse of trees. Petra's ghost flickered beside her in curiosity, the flowers abandoned once more. 'What are you looking for?' her chipper ghostly voice echoed around her, almost making her think she was insane; but welcoming the conversation all the same. "They say that outside the walls the trees have an abundance of food around this time of year…" she said and Petra's ghost looked up at the empty trees.

'I see… but there's no fruit in these trees…' she said and Evelyn nodded. "I know… I'm searching for the ones that do…" Evelyn explained and the ghost offered a flicker of a smile. 'I understand, I will leave you to your search now, alright?' she asked and Evelyn nodded. Petra didn't leave, but she was silent; allowing Evelyn to search for the trees with fruit in them. The atmosphere was calming as she searched for the specific group of trees. Petra was humming some soft melody Evelyn rather liked and everything was comforting, until Petra vanished completely.

Her lovely hum ending suddenly leaving the melody dead on the wind… Evelyn turned around and pulled her hunting knife from her boot; Levi had always told her pack extra in case of emergency. She ducked in behind a bush beside one of the trees she was searching, a rustle of the bush down the row catching her attention. Eight days she had been out in the middle of nowhere alone, fearing for her life. Eight days she had spent chewing on the nasty grass, tree bark, and on the second day she had even attempted to eat a poor unsuspecting insect that had crossed her path.

Main words being tried, she grabbed the bastard and it turned out he had a stinger her hand healed fast but she dare didn't eat him. Turns out it had been a fairly large scorpion and she had grabbed it by the legs, thinking the pinching bastard was safe to eat. He had clamped his claws down on her arm and stung her right in the center of her palm. Needless to say she will be paying more attention to what creepy crawlies she attempts to eat in the future

She'd been out for three days after that and only then on the sixth day did she wake, only to sit under the same stupid tree she had been today. She repressed the self hating sigh and her ears twitched as she made out footsteps. When they passed her she lunged, grabbing the unsuspecting person around the shoulders, her knife to the nape of his neck. "Who are you?" Evelyn hissed out and the person shook in fear. "T-tanaka h-hiro." He stammered and she furrowed her brows.

"Where are you from?" she snapped and he shook more. "I c-can't say." He stammered and her brows furrowed. "This is outside of every wall, unless you're a real human speak now. If you are human I have no use for you." She said and he continued to shake. All of a sudden he stopped shaking and his fingers moved. Evelyn's eyes narrowed and she jumped backwards a few steps. "Do you want me to kill you?!" she snarled as the teen transformed into a titan.

He had a larger upper body than he had lower. His legs were short and appeared to help with running on all fours and bounding through trees rapidly. Evelyn supposed if her smaller form had legs like that then she could do less damage to the surrounding trees as she threw herself through them, she thought with a bitter mental laugh.

He lunged for her and she bit down on her hand, steam shooting from all around her. Needless to say his titan was smaller than hers and appeared to be built for stealth. She was on all fours at first but she stood and stretched out her back with a popping noise. His titan lunged for her and she fisted her hands together and slammed them down on his back as he rushed at her. She then picked him up and threw him. She wasn't enjoying the fight, but it seemed as if titan Eve had other things planned.

Evelyn vaguely remembered her vision going dark after titan Eve began chasing the smaller titan out of the wooded area and towards what appeared to be a village with somewhat high walls, about ten to twelve feet at most, but they were still taller than her human self was. That was all she remembered before her sight fading away once more. She hated when titan Eve took over, she didn't know what was going on anymore. But she also liked it because then she could see them all vividly once more. Marco's caring smile, Jean's horse face, and Levi's nearly eternal glare. She could see them all once again and it made her smile slightly.

:-:-:-:-:-:

The people of the villagers had rushed to the gates to see what the commotion was outside. They were quite surprised when they saw the two titans fighting. The larger one appeared to be winning. "What a lovely female titan, I've never seen one quite as lovely except for Annie, I wonder if the poor girl is alright." One elderly man sighed from his place in the crowd, which got the younger members of the village surrounding now.

Three sets of eyes went wide, those three sets of eyes were connected to rapidly beating hearts fueling the fear running within their veins. Moving that fear and desperation faster than it needed too. One of them was sweating profusely, while the other two tried to hide their fear by giving disdainful looks at the female titan. "Seems like Tanaka-san found himself a Rogue titan…" another elder of the village sighed. "Poor kid, no one can help him unless he kills her." She sighed and the three looked from the elder woman to the small titan that was trying to force the larger one to the ground unsuccessfully.

"The kid has no hope of being one of the village's greatest shifters if he can't beat this pathetic Rogue…" one younger man in front of them said and they froze, their words of denial caught in their throat. There was nothing they could say that would get them to listen and help the kid. If they went and helped him then they would all be shunned. Grey blue eyes clashed with chocolate brown and nervous green. "What do we do?"

"There's nothing we can do, she is going to kill him." He whispered and the other two frowned. A bright glimmer or light flashed of off the claws that formed from the knuckle down. She ripped one of his arms off and threw it in one direction, Tanaka howling in pain beneath her. She ripped the other one off and the sides of her mouth split open wide. The villagers gasped in surprise and disgust as his arms were ripped off and thrown.

Someone shoved their way through the crowd and the three looked over to see two men wearing glasses, their eyes wide in surprise. One man's face held some sort of mixture of surprise and evil intent. This man had black hair and was all too familiar with them and the man beside him who watched in surprise and horror. Blood splattered their faces before they had even realized what had happened. The titan had dug Tanaka from the back of his titan only to stand from her place hovering over his titan.

She had turned towards the village and with a wicked smirk dictating her intelligence she bit down on Tanaka and swallowed what was left of him whole. She had just consumed their stealth titan, the one that prowled the walls for weaknesses before they made any major moves, and she knew it too. As she began stalking towards the village, the people hiding behind the gates screamed and ran around like chickens with their heads cut off.

The three had no idea what to do, they knew exactly what a danger she was to the rest of them. They were going to go forward and attempt to hold her off but steam erupted from the titan's back once she had knelt down about fifty something feet from the entrance to the village. The village leader made his way to the front of the commotion to see her standing atop the titan skeleton, her arms crossed over her chest.

"You again." The village leader said and she grasped a rib and swung herself down. "Evelyn Ackerman…" the man with the glasses and long brown hair said in disbelief. She completely ignored the rest of the fleeing villagers. "Grisha Yeager, Beastly titan." She greeted bitterly. "So this is the home Eve was speaking of… interesting." She said as her eyes scanned the village. "Oh… Reiner… Ymir… Bertholt. Glad to see you are doing well." She said and offered a small smile.

The man with the short black hair wearing the rectangle lensed glasses rushed at her. "Evelyn! I'm so glad you're alive." He said as he rushed over to her. She stepped away from the embrace he offered her with a frown. "I thought you were supposed to be dead. Why was I lied to?" she asked, still evading her father's advances. "Evelyn… welcome home." Her father said, stopping his attempts at embracing her.

"This isn't my home, but it's better than staying under that damnable tree. And better than being within those walls…" she said and her father frowned. "Ah. Yes forgive me for-" he began but Evelyn glared at him. She walked right past him and to the village leader, who reminded her of a stern older man with a bitter look permanently etched into his features. "Welcome to our village night stalker, such a shame you eat our scout…" he said and a disgusted look crossed her face.

"Apparently I left Eve unattended for too long." She growled deeply and a smirk flashed over the man's lips. "Ah, yes, Eve… the false titan. Funny how those things come to be." The man said and her father froze in his place. "You're lucky she came to us, Nicolai. Or else it would have been you that we had fed her instead of poor young Tanaka." The older man said then turned to walk away, only stopping to give Reiner, Bertholt, and Ymir a sideways glance.

"She bunks with you three, I trust you will not disappoint me." he said then continued to walk, his arms crossed behind his back his hands folded neatly together as if he didn't have a care in the world. Evelyn turned to walk away with the three but her curiosity got the better of her and she turned around to face Grisha and Nicolai. "You are Eren's father correct?" she asked and he nodded, regret clear in his eyes.

She nodded and turned to her own father, who she wasn't all too pleased to find he was still walking the earth. "And you… I have a question for you as well." She said and her father beamed at her, the sheer joy in his look made her sick. "I actually have a few. For starters… who am I? before you answer I mean it as in, who I really am… my personality? Who was I before I watched mother burn?" she asked and he frowned.

"You are Evelyn Ackerman, and you were a young girl fascinated with titans and humanity as well. You weren't normal, people would say. Your mother feared you. You were a loner, intelligent for your age and compassionate. You were always seeking the truth, even if it hurt you and made you cry. You were determined." He said and she nodded. "I see, so I am broken…" she whispered then turned to stare at her father with curious blue eyes.

"Do you still think I am that justice seeking young girl who sought nothing but the truth? Or has Kenny broken me down and re shaped me to his liking?" she asked and her father smirked, shaking his head. "I believe if you think it over, then you know what the right thing to do is. Everywhere there is corruption, and you will still seek the truth; do you not? After all, you aren't alone in your endeavors." He said and she nodded once more. "Good choice of wording, I may actually think of talking to you more… but only under one condition." She said and he beamed at her.

"What condition is that?" he asked and she frowned deeply. "You answer this question truthfully." She said and he nodded. "My brother Levi… and Mikasa… are… are they like me? Are they like us?" she asked and he blinked in surprise. "No. Mikasa and Levi are not titan shifters. Only you and I were susceptible." He said and she nodded. Evelyn sighed in relief, dropping the angry façade and following the three that were once her friends.

"Welcome to our village, Evelyn." Reiner ground out and she eyes him oddly. "But this is not home. This place will never be home." He said and she nodded. "I know, it will never be my home either. This place, nor the walls… they will never be my home. Somewhere out there is a place I can call home, and that place is out there for you as well. We just have to find it." she said and Reiner watched her uneasily.

"We only want to go home." He said and she nodded. "I know, you don't have to tell me again." She felt a bit at ease now… now that she was no longer alone. Now that she was surrounded by those like her the loneliness faded, but her nerves were on end. She didn't trust any of them.


	8. Chapter 8

Evelyn couldn't sleep, how could she try? The fear she had felt from Tanaka before Eve had eaten him still stung at her. She wasn't a monster… she never wanted to be… but if she was going to save those she cared for she had to do as Armin said. He had told Eren that he needed to ditch his humanity for a bit, but Evelyn felt cold… she felt as if her humanity was fleeing her grasp. The last time she had truly felt human was when she was explaining to Hannah what exactly had happened to her.

"I don't exactly understand, Evelyn… but I'm here for you. I'm not going to leave you to be alone. The entire time you all were gone outside the wall I worried for you." Hannah said and Evelyn blinked at her in surprise. "You still thought about us? Even though we had gone our separate ways?" Evelyn asked and Hannah nodded with a small smile. "I… forgive me… I didn't forget about you I was just too preoccupied keeping myself and our friends alive to really think about the trainees." Evelyn whispered and Hannah smiled and patted her knee in a friendly manner.

"Don't fret over it, I understand fully. I don't think I could have lasted very long outside the walls…" she said and Evelyn frowned. "I worry that every day… I may lose someone and there would be nothing to do about it. I was always scared, it made me feel just how insignificant and powerless I was… but now… I'm losing that feeling and that scares me even more than the titans. Ever since I became one of the titan shifters… the feeling of fear has faded and I can't find it in me to really care about my life anymore…" Evelyn said and Hannah frowned. "I can't say I understand that… being as I'm not like you or Eren."

Evelyn nodded, she knew the younger girl wouldn't be able to understand, she was a human. A real one. "You know though… Evelyn… you're still human, even if the majority of the people within the walls don't see you as such, you are." She said and Evelyn looked over at the younger girl. "How can that be so? I'm a titan shifter… there's nothing human about that." Evelyn bit out, it was a lot harsher than she had meant it to be, but Hannah didn't flinch. She only smiled…

"You are human Evelyn. You really are…" she said then tapped her chin gently, Evelyn supposed she was thinking of how to explain it to her. "For starters… you speak. You talk to us, even in titan form, right?" she asked and Evelyn nodded. "Well according to what I heard, Annie, Bertholt, and Reiner couldn't speak in titan form. So that counts right?" she asked and Evelyn frowned. "I can't say… I don't know what to think anymore. They killed so many… but they looked like us… they have feelings like us…" Evelyn said, biting her lip and looking down.

Hannah frowned at this as well. "I guess hinting that they were monsters was harsh of me…" she whispered and Evelyn nodded. "They begged for someone to come find them… so I'm really not sure what to believe." Evelyn said and Hannah nodded. "Then believe you are human. You have emotions, you feel. That's something they can't say for themselves, although titans really don't say anything anyways, they don't feel. They don't love. You do, so don't constantly berate yourself for something that was out of your control." She said fiercely, which elicited a pang of emotion in her chest.

"You care about others, those mindless titans don't. They eat humans for fun. They don't listen to the pleas of the humans they just kill, kill, kill! They took Franz… they Took Marco. That's the difference! They don't care! I saw you cry, I saw you clutch to Jean for dear life. I heard you scream, I felt your fear! I felt your pain, I felt your struggle! I'm human, so if I felt all that from you, you are still a human. Just one that's been misunderstood… Don't let the misunderstandings of others tear you down." Hannah said and Evelyn felt the urge to cry.

"You feel it now don't you? Those emotions? They prove that you are human, please don't let go of them or you will lose yourself completely."

Evelyn understood every word Hannah had said, they were inscribed deep within her mind. That didn't help her right now though because that look of fear that had shown on Hannah's face when she had saved her from the cadet that was going to use her as bait, killed off any hope that Hannah still saw her as a human. Evelyn's eyes trailed across the room, where Bertholt sat on his bunk a sketch set in his grasp. The sketch book sat in his lap as he scribbled deftly onto it, most likely drawing something special that he would freak out if she asked to see.

Deep in Evelyn's heart she wanted to smile and ask what he was drawing, but her mind shut that down swiftly. She didn't want to get too close to them again until she could figure out why they had done what they had. She was finding it extremely hard though, seeing as they were persistent on trying to joke around with her now. She could hear Ymir and Reiner whispering back in forth, saying she looked like death. They were saying she was sickly, as if she were giving in. She didn't care, not in the slightest. She was sickened with worry.

Eren… how was he? They had their share of little spats and thus had formed a competitive brother-sister relationship. Historia? What was going to happen to the adorable little blonde girl? Evelyn felt weak and she didn't care. The feeling of humanity had faded. She let her hand drop to the floor with a small thud, their gazes turned to her. They only stared at her. She heard Bertholt's box of pencils be set aside, along with paper rustling from him closing the sketch book. Then she heard a rip, she was confused but she didn't care enough to try and figure out what he had done.

Her dull eyes were still staring at that one crack in the stone foundation. Her eyes drifted up and watched as it connected with the wooden siding of the house they were in. she briefly heard his footsteps as he got closer to her. Her arm hung limply off the side of the bed. She hadn't moved in… maybe three days ago now… Ymir hadn't cared enough for her mental breakdown to try and help, but it wasn't like Evelyn wanted help anyways.

Reiner would toss a look her way at random, but she knew he didn't know how to react. She knew well enough that the blonde teen wasn't sure what to do. She heard a thump and her nose twitched in annoyance, Bertholt had planted himself right in front of her so her line of sight was directly on him. "I've only seen eyes that empty once before…" he said softly and she blinked dully at him. "A broken woman is not one I want to see." He said, his voice soft and caring.

"A broken woman is what she is, Bertholt…" Ymir said and Bertholt frowned. Evelyn saw that he was shaking, he was nervous. "Evelyn… I… I know you are in there. I see you breathe. I see you blink. I see all those pained looks that you think no one sees…" he said softly and her eyes trailed up to meet with his Evergreen hues. "Why do you care?" Evelyn asked, her voice devoid of emotion and just as cold as her eyes.

"At one time I was your friend. I care you, you… and all my friends." He said and she blinked at him once more. "How can you call us your friends when half of them died because you broke down the wall?" she asked, her voice cold and cutting. She knew it hurt because he looked away with tears in his eyes. "I never wanted it to happen. I had no choice." He whimpered and she just blinked at him again. A swift pinch to her shoulder made her jerk and grab for it.

"Ow." She bit out and lifted her covers to see an angry red spot on her arm. She touched it and Marco flickered into view across the room. His face was saddened, and very disappointed. 'Get a hold of yourself Evelyn!' his voice echoed around her and she dropped her head in shame. It took a ghost to scold her… "Here, I drew these for you. I thought it would help ease the loneliness while you are here." He said with a nervous look.

She sat up weakly and her fingers brushed over the pieces of paper he had offered her. There was one picture where Marco sat to her right his eyes closed in bliss as he chattered to her happily. Jean sat on her left a small smile adorning his lips as he rested his head on his hand, his eyes closed with a peaceful look. She sat in the middle of them, her right hand resting softly on her ankle and her other hand resting on her right knee.

This had been a week before graduation from the trainees. They had been chattering on about their hopes and dreams, not a single argument as Marco had claimed he might decide on survey corps. Jean had been surprised but he knew why he was doing it. Jean had mentioned joining the military police, but had also said he would be sure to visit them since they were his closest friends. Bertholt had been drawing adamantly on his sketch pad that day, so she figured he might have a drawing of everyone then.

She flipped to the next picture, and her heart clenched more. This one didn't have her in it, but it had Marco and Jean their arms were tossed over the other's shoulders, the brightest of smiles on their faces. Her lip trembled and she lurched forwards, her arms holding the pictures tightly to her chest. She hadn't even looked at the last one yet and she had broken down. Tears streamed over her cheeks as she grit her teeth together to keep herself from crying out.

Bertholt looked at her with a sad smile. "I know how you feel, I have nightmares every night. I fear for their safety… although I am reason for their fears… I don't want to hurt them…" he said softly and she pulled the pictures away from her chest to flip to the last picture, where her sobs turned to choked laughter. The tears still falling as she laughed. "I miss them so much." She said, her laughter subsiding, but not her tears.

The last picture had Levi in all his clean freak glory standing over a group of familiar faces who Bertholt had managed to see get in trouble. Jean, Eren, Armin, Connie, Reiner, and Sasha had fearful looks on their faces from being caught by the corporal. That must have been the day when she had been assigned to the horse stalls with Historia, and had been unable to work with the rest of her friends. The look on Levi's face was one of utter annoyance. The picture in itself was priceless.

"Thank you… Bertholt." Evelyn whispered and he smiled softly with a small blush. "Its no problem. Would you like to see what keeps me happy?" he asked and she nodded. He stood quickly, despite his long, lanky legs and rushed over to his sketch pad. He flopped back down in front of her with a genuine smile on his lips. "This is my mother." He said flipping to the first page in his book. A woman with a bright smile and gleaming eyes held a young boy, which appeared to be him as a child. She had long hair that fell down her back in a low ponytail. She wore clothes that reminded her of the typical woodsmen.

Evelyn briefly noticed the surprised looks she received from Reiner and Ymir. "She's lovely Bertholt. She looks like a strong fearless woman…" Evelyn said and Bertholt nodded. "She was when I was younger… I'm not so sure now…" he said softly and flipped to the next page, where a tall man stood beside the image of his mother, the young Bertholt sketch was at their feet smiling softly. "Your father?" she asked and he nodded. His father was much taller than his mother in the sketch, which suggested he had gotten his height from his father's side of the family.

Bertholt didn't speak much more on his family, but he flipped to the next page, where Annie and her family were drawn. Annie's mother was frail looking, suggesting she was probably terminally ill, her father was healthy looking but short, suggesting she had gotten her height from her mother. She still looked the same, but there was a crack of a smile on her lips. Bertholt stared at Annie's family sketch for a second longer.

He blushed lightly and he flipped to the next page, which had a young Reiner pouting in front of his parents. His father was tall and looked similar to Reiner, but with a kinder face. Reiner's mother looked like a goddess, or as one would have seen a goddess as in a child's point of view. She had long hair that framed her face, soft looking eyes, and a sincere smile. "You always did have a knack for capturing my mother perfectly on paper, Bert." Reiner said and that was when Evelyn had noticed that he and Ymir had been hovering over them for some time now.

"Seems he caught your brattiness on there as well." Ymir said offhandedly and Reiner snorted. "As if." He snorted and Bertholt flipped the page then blushed and flipped it again just as swiftly. This caught Evelyn's attention. She grabbed his hand and flipped the page back one. Reiner smirked. "You know, if Annie ever saw that she would break you in half." He chuckled and Bertholt blushed. "Shut up Reiner." Ymir sighed and pinched Bertholt's cheeks with a smirk.

"Its cute." She said and Bertholt's blush deepened. "Its very nice, Bertholt." Evelyn said with a sincere smile. It was a picture of Bertholt hugging Annie, the surprise on her face seemed realistic for a drawing. "I was wrong about you all… forgive me. I think I have figured out why you're doing this…" Evelyn said softly and Reiner and berhtolt stared at her in shock. "He has threatened the lives of your families… hasn't he? He has them locked away somewhere that you can't see them and the titans can't reach them… is that right?" she asked and they stared at her in shock.

"Annie's mother didn't make it… nor did her father. He lasted a bit longer than her mother did though. Annie watched Dominic feed her mother to the titans, not long after Annie was captured in the capitol they killed her father." Reiner explained and Evelyn's lips pulled back in anger. "So he still has your families as well?" she asked and they nodded. Ymir exchanged glances with her then looked at the two teens. "That's cruel. And I'm not usually one to care." Ymir said and they frowned at her.

"I don't feel like moving all too much at the moment, because I sat here and starved myself for three days, but if you get me some food I would be more than happy to assist you in whatever you need done." Evelyn said and they blinked at her in surprise. Her eyes showed a determination that they understood. "Thank you." Reiner said and she nodded. "Don't worry, we will figure this all out." She said and a knock on the door drew them from their silent planning.

Ymir opened the door and Dominic, the village leader, stood there with a pile of clothes. "I brought some things for Evelyn to choose from since she is still wearing those atrocious clothes from the walls. I think you would find these much more comfortable, would you not? There's a lot for you to choose from so feel free to go through it all." He said and offered a smile, which Evelyn returned, although the clashing of their eyes showed a different story, they knew they were on different sides still.

Evelyn set the pile of shirts on one side while she sat the pants and shorts on the other. There actually was a lot to choose from, so she chose a particular style and stuck with it. She was not going to be wearing pants during the summer, it was already scalding hot during the day which meant her uniform was disgustingly sweaty and hot. Baggy t-shirts in the pile made her grimace and she tossed them to the side. She found a bunch of shorts, which she rolled her eyes at. Reiner and Bertholt left the small lodging and waited outside while Ymir was kind enough to help her change.

She had decided upon a pair of grey short shorts and a long light blue t-shirt, which the shorts only showed from under about two inches. It had been a bit of trouble removing the harness and Ymir had been surprised with the amount of heavy dark bruises left by it. Evelyn on the other hand hadn't been surprised by the bruises in the slightest, she still moved around as if the bruises didn't hurt her. She caught Ymir staring and she was confused.

"What?" she asked and Ymir jabbed a finger into one of the bruises and Evelyn grit her teeth and repressed a yelp. "You don't heal your bruises?" she asked and Evelyn frowned. "I can't, my bruises never heal… not even on their own. Titan Eve can't even heal them." Evelyn said and Ymir frowned. "That's actually a hassle. You realize if Dominic finds out he will label you as weak, right?" Ymir asked with a sigh and Evelyn snorted.

"Lets see him try, if he hasn't noticed… he doesn't know what I'm capable of…"she said and Ymir snorted. "You got him there, now no doubt you're just starving, so let's go get some food." She said and Evelyn nodded but not before grabbing her harness and putting it back on. Ymir looked at her like she was stupid, but then noticed that the bruises lined up perfectly hidden beneath the harness and she rolled her eyes.

"I don't feel right without it." Evelyn said as she continued to pull on her boots as well. She kicked the toes of the boots against the heels of the opposite boot then continued to walk forward. "We gotta find you some other shoes…" Ymir sighed and Evelyn shook her head. "No, I'm perfectly fine with these. They are perfectly comfortable since I've pretty much worn them out." Evelyn said and glared at the hunting boots Ymir wore.

"I don't know how to fight with any other type of shoe anymore." She said and pulled the thirteen inch blade from her boot. Ymir repressed an impressed look before Evelyn dropped the blade back into her boot. "I didn't know corporal allowed weaponry such as that." She mused and Evelyn smirked. "Shadish gave it to me." she said, which surprised Ymir. "That bastard really liked to fucking yell didn't he?" she groaned and Evelyn laughed.

"Yep, that was his thing, being the previous commander of the scouting legion." She said offhandedly and Ymir rolled her eyes. They stepped out of the lodging and Bertholt and Reiner waved at them and walked with them to what appeared to be the town square. "Tomorrow we have scouting duty, Evelyn. Dominic told us this after we stepped out." Reiner sighed and Evelyn nodded. "That's fine. Eve has been itching to go for a walk anyways. She makes little hissy noises in my head when she knows she can be out, but isn't let out…" Evelyn sighed and Reiner shook his head.

"Our titans don't talk to us, they just sit there and wait patiently." Reiner said and Evelyn murmured her interest. "I guess Eve just has her own personality… she was created from my body after all." She said and they stared at her in confusion. "You mean you never got the injection?" Reiner and Bertholt asked and Evelyn shook her head. "Eve was an entirely different entity until Dominic decided to try and get answers out of me. He thought I was human… so he thought I would tell him things." She said and her brows furrowed in thought.

"Jean has Sparta's braid. I had forgotten where it was but now I know it's safe." She sighed in relief and Bertholt blinked. "Your horse?" he asked and she nodded. "Dominic ordered a titan to throw him, he… I had to end his suffering. What happened that night was overwhelming. I screamed out attempting to call titans to me and he kicked me." she muttered and they frowned. "That was when I took over titan Eve. Or maybe she thought she was going to take me over, it doesn't matter anymore." She sighed as they reached a market stand which had a variety of wrapped and salted meats, vegetables, and fruits sitting out. She guessed the salts were there to preserve them.

There was meat she had never seen before, same for vegetables and fruits. There was one fruit that was yellow orange with some green fading across it. "What is this?" she asked and Reiner smiled humoredly. "That's a mango. They are sweet and really juicy just like y-" she cut him off with a glare. "One comment about my ass and you will regret it." she snapped and he grinned and ruffled her hair. "Already back to being little miss snippy. I like that, you being a zombie wasn't working for me." he chuckled and grabbed a bag and filled it with mangoes.

He then grabbed another small bag and grabbed a large portion of every type of meat there was. Evelyn watched him with furrowed brows. "You can take as much as you want?" she asked and he looked over at her with a carrot sticking out of his mouth. He looked confused before he blinked and nodded. "This is what living outside of the walls gets you…" he said, his voice ashamed. "I see… I've never just had so much food to choose from. It's incredible." She said and he blinked at her.

Her eyes were filled with determination and he couldn't help but smile at her. "You know… for being related to Mikasa and all, you aren't half bad." He said and she snorted. "Not half bad… pshh. Whatever you say." Evelyn said with a small smile. She was glad she had figured it out, now she just had to find a way to save their parents and Annie. She couldn't leave Annie behind. There was no way she was going to leave Annie or Eren behind.

Evelyn couldn't just tear through the village to search for their parents either… it was a delicate situation. She couldn't tear down the walls to save Eren, Annie, and Historia either. Then she will be submitting the rest of the innocent humans to the wrath of the titans. Evelyn bit her lip as she was thinking, not noticing that Reiner was in her face until he kissed her and her face scrunched up and her fist flew back and knocked him off his feet.

Evelyn whirled on him with angered eyes, she saw Ymir laughing her ass off, Bertholt's jaw pretty much stirring up dirt in his surprise, and Reiner on his bum holding his bags of food over his head relieved. "What the hell was that!?" she snarled and he grinned. "You were biting your lip quite a bit, I thought it could use a bit of Reiner healing." He said with a grin and she scrunched her nose up in anger. "You disgust me." she snapped and threw her boot right into his face leaving a dirty foot print in the center of his face.

"I was thinking, don't you dare interrupt me like that again. A 'Hey, Eve, you in there?' would have sufficed." She snarled and Reiner grinned. "But that isn't as fun." He said and she glowered at him. "There's no need to kill him Evelyn…" Bertholt stammered nervously and she looked over at him. The people around them seemed just as surprised as Reiner had been that she had hit him. Apparently Reiner either didn't openly flirt, or the girls of this village were head over heels for the hulky blonde.

Evelyn clicked her tongue in disgust and turned her face away from him. A familiar face in the crowd rushed forwards and her face darkened to a likeness of Mikasa's, surprising Bertholt and Reiner. Her father slowed to a halt in front of her and blinked in confusion, Grisha Yeager stood beside him with a frown on his lips. Bertholt handed her the boot that had planted itself in Reiner's face. She smiled at him and pulled it back on.

"Yes father?" she asked and he frowned. "Dominic sent me to tell you that he has a raid planned, he wants you, Reiner, Bertholt, and Ymir to be a part of it." he said and Evelyn crossed her arms over her chest. "What is it for?" she asked and he frowned. "Historia Reiss, and Eren Yeager." He said and Evelyn's eyes took on a half lidded sinister gleam. Her lips curled up into a smile that screamed a sinister plot running through the raven haired girl's mind.

"How does he expect to do this?" she asked and her father felt the uneasy chill travel down his spine. "He is putting it in your control, he wants to see what you are going to do." Her father said and Evelyn ruffled her hair. "I see. I will think it over and tell him what I find. Can I ask you something personal later?" she asked and he furrowed his brows but nodded. "Good to know." She said and turned away from her father, her eyes landing on Grisha.

He was visibly worried and everyone could tell. Who wouldn't be? Dominic wanted his only son… Evelyn gave him a reassuring nod and turned back to her group. Their eyes relayed a common message and Evelyn smiled. She was glad they all agreed. "Tell Dominic I will think over a plan and then I will relay it to him." She said and grabbed for another bag of fruits with a smile. He nodded and walked off. The dark look returned to her face and Bertholt repressed a shiver.

"You're kinda scary Eve… is that an Ackerman thing?" He asked and she smiled at him. "Only certain Ackerman get the look I guess, my father is lacking in the fear inducing department." She sighed and he nodded. "Mikasa, Levi, and you are all very proficient in that look. I just never realized you had it in you till now." Ymir said with a smirk and Evelyn frowned. "Because I don't like making those around me fear me. I don't want to be the one people avoid. My brother had a magnificent group, despite his lacking personality…" she said and Bertholt nodded.

"Petra was very nice." He said softly and a huff behind Evelyn made her eye twitch. 'Was nice? I'm still nice. Why are you here Evelyn?' her voice rang out and Evelyn turned to face the ghostly woman with her hands on her hips. "Formulating a plan." Evelyn muttered under her breath and Petra raised a brow. 'I can't hear you.' Petra said and Bertholt poked her in the ribs lightly. "Evelyn…" he called lightly and she looked at him.

Reiner and Ymir were watching her with confused looks. "I'll tell you later. It's hard to explain." Evelyn sighed and Petra frowned at her. 'I'm not hard to explain! I'm dead.' She grumbled and Evelyn sighed. "I know. I know this already." Evelyn sighed and they blinked at her. "I said I would explain." She grumbled and grabbed the bag of mixed fruit. She stood straight up and turned around, the other three rushing to catch up to her.

They made it to their small cabin-like house and Evelyn flopped on her bed. "This is very hard to explain… and I don't know if I'm going insane or not… but I guess it's worth a shot." Evelyn said as she pulled a green apple from her bag. "Basically… Petra, Marco, Erd, Mike, Gunter, Aururo, and the ghosts of everyone from the 104th that didn't make it are following me around. Honestly I thought I was going insane, but the only reason I stayed sane while I was out there in the field of flowers was because Petra was following me around. Marco always finds some way to let me know that I need to do the opposite of what I was planning, such as not listening to what you were trying to say to me Bertholt, that's why I jumped up so fast, he pinched me or something…" she sighed through a bite of apple.

"Finally you explained it." Petra said with a smile and Bertholt stared at her. "What, we are dead. Not invisible. Ok so maybe we are… but we can temporarily make ourselves visible. But only those who have seen us can hear us evenafter we flicker away." Petra said as her image faded away. "We don't just follow you Evelyn… we are usually following Levi, but I thought I would come watch after you since you are quite reckless." She said and Evelyn frowned.

"Yeah… so… how is this normal?" Ymir asked and Petra frowned as she flickered out of view once more, her voice echoed around the room but she could no longer make herself seen. 'I see souls all over the place… but the souls will not show themselves to any of those living. I guess we made a mistake or something. Levi won't look at us, so we can't talk to him. Eren and the others saw a girl named Mina and a boy named Thomas. So they can see them and hear them. It's odd, I never thought ghosts existed, but I guess I am wrong huh?' Petra asked and Evelyn frowned.

"You shouldn't be following me, Petra. I understand it's not dangerous for you to follow me, but I want you to follow Levi. Come back and tell me if anything goes wrong…" Evelyn said and Petra smiled, although they couldn't see it. 'Alright. That's no problem, I will do my best." Petra said and her presence vanished completely. "So… anyone else feel kinda trippy now? Like you've eaten some funky ass mushroom from the forest?" Reiner asked and Evelyn laughed.

"Imagine that, but all the time. If you touch them, they flicker into view. Imagine when I saw Marco for the first time." She sighed and Reiner chuckled. "She went ballistic, I wasn't quite sure what I had done because I didn't know she could see me until she screamed to Jean that she saw me. Man was I surprised. I had been talking to her forever and yet she could never hear me, but the moment I tried to get her to calm down she broke into tears. She didn't start really talking to me until… she became the night stalker titan. I had tried to talk her into getting back up… but… she smiled at me and refused..." He said with a frown. "Besides, it's more comforting seeing the people you know. There are so many more ghosts floating around that you don't even know and they stare… and stare… and stare… it's weird…" he added nonchalantly and Reiner threw his hands in the air.

"I'm done. Goodnight. No more fucking ghosts." He grumbled and slammed his face into a pillow. Bertholt yanked his blanket over his head after he put the meats in the ice box to keep them cool. Evelyn wasn't sure how it worked but they obviously knew. Ymir rolled over onto her bed and slammed her pillow onto her face. "Dead people, just my luck." She grumbled and Evelyn laughed. "Now you see my troubles." She said and Ymir flipped her off.

"I would prefer if you had just been insane or something." She grumbled and Evelyn's eyes became saddened and dull. "Not me, if I were, I doubt I could live with myself... I don't understand how I still have the energy to move now…" She whispered and rolled over to face the wall as well.

:-:_:-:

Jean sat in his makeshift bed, just staring at the ceiling; it had apparently become a nightly thing. His lip trembled, his eyes watered, and he gripped his upper arms tightly to attempt to stifle the tears that wanted to escape. Marco sat in the window and watched as his best friend struggled with his emotions. Sasha, Connie, and Armin would sometimes roll over and ask him if he was ok; but Jean shut them out by saying he was perfectly fine.

Mikasa sat propped against the wall with dull eyes; she was suffering as well although she refused to show it. Marco dropped from the window and walked over to nestle himself in between Sasha, Connie, and Jean. He was dead, but that didn't mean he couldn't seek comfort from his still living friends. He knew they wouldn't hear it if he spoke to them, but he still liked to talk to them anyways. They had been the ones that were trying to save him even though they hadn't known he was already dead.

They had been searching rubble for hours trying to find him somewhere, trapped but alive; but they only found him against the wall dead. He had been there for days? Hours? He didn't know. All he knew was that when he had hit his knees in front of his own body, he had lost all will to move and all will to… well… do anything. He cried tears that never fell, screamed yells that would never be heard, and pleaded for a life, that could never be returned to him.

He didn't want this for his friends, none of them. Not Annie, not Bertholt, not Reiner, not even them; who had ultimately been the cause of his death. He was already done for when Annie found him. He knew exactly who were to blame, but despite that fact he couldn't find it in himself to hate them. Not when he had seen Annie cry for the very first time when she had found him, not when Annie had pleaded forgiveness away from the eyes of the others.

Not when he had seen Bertholt cry himself to sleep, and then still have nightmares from the things he had caused. He had seen Bertholt and Reiner break down and just collapse against things when no one was watching. They thought they had found a safe place to let out their grievances, but Marco had seen it. Marco felt their pain and it was overwhelming. Being a ghost, he had no physical form, but what he did thrive off of was the emotions of others.

He had never in his life felt such immense pain before he had died. He had only smiled through it all and tried to be brave when he knew he was shaking in his boots. He had felt their pain and it still hadn't faded from his ethereal being. Their pain hurt him, but no one's pain had stuck with him as much as Jean's and Evelyn's. Theirs still struck something deep within him and he could still see the pain and shock on their faces as if he were watching a replay of that day…

Jean had a cloth wrapped over his mouth so he didn't breathe in anything that could potentially harm him, but he pulled it off when he saw Marco. The pain and shock in his eyes when he had found him was unbearable. Marco hadn't even been able to force a smile when Jean had come across him. He just stared at his friend with tears in his eyes; who stared at his body in desperate shock. He knew that if allowed to linger any longer Jean would have broken down and cried in front of everyone there, just as Evelyn did.

Evelyn had stumbled upon his body not even an hour after Jean had. Marco hadn't been there when she had found him, he had attached himself to Jean so he wouldn't have to stare at his own corpse any longer. He and Jean had both figured out that Evelyn had found his corpse at the same time, her pained wails echoing all over Trost. Everyone heard her cries, it was impossible not to hear them. Marco had turned to Jean and tried to shove at him while yelling, "Go to her! She needs you! I can't be there! I can't… not anymore!" he had attempted to shove Jean multiple times but went through him every time.

He hadn't really noticed Jean's reaction until he had heard his stifled sobs against his arm. "She found you Marco… oh God she found you… Lord… give me the strength…" he sobbed and Marco had stopped his own angered sobs to watch his friend cry. "I'm so sorry Eve… I'm so so sorry…" he sobbed and Marco felt the urge to cry even harder, but the dead couldn't cry, not really. Marco had just taken off running towards his body once more, he could hardly bear listening to her cries. He had stood in shock just staring at her, he couldn't make his limbs move… not anymore. He was too struck by her pain to try.

Marco grasped at his chest and looked over at Jean, who was rubbing his eyes furiously. 'Don't let him see you… just look after him for me, would you?' that was Evelyn's request. Marco was finding it harder and harder not to let the other male see him. Marco tossed an arm over his best friend's shoulder to attempt to give him some comfort. Jean visibly relaxed and Marco smiled slightly. He almost wished they could go back to the time where Evelyn would blush and stammer if embarrassed by him or Jean.

Back when she would smile, and laugh… her real smiles and her real laughs. The smiles she offers now… those are forced and they make him want to hug her and tell her everything is just fine, but its not… and it never will be. Her light is fading and he doesn't know how to stop it. He can see her growing dimmer each day. You mention Jean's name and it flares back up, but then falls twice as much as it flared up.

Marco longed to see his two friends happy once more. He longed for Evelyn to smile that brilliantly bright smile she had when they were in training. He longed to see the dusting of pink that would cross her cheeks if surprised, embarrassed, or even angry. He longed to hear her laugh again, the laugh that echoed like chiming bells; Jean had always claimed it was an annoying laugh but Marco had always thought it was the most beautiful and chipper sound he had ever heard.

She had made him think he had actually had a chance at living outside the walls, despite the fact he knew he didn't stand a chance. She made him think he could be strong, brave, and confident. That could be the reason why he loved her beyond all reasonable explanation. She made him feel like he could take on the world and everything it threw at him.

All of the things he loved about her were gone now, there was nothing left but a dull glow from the bright light she had once been. Her eyes had lost the mischievous glimmer, her skin had lost the reddish hue from her constant blushing, her voice had become quite broken, her eyes were almost always bloodshot from her crying in secret,

He missed how Jean was always cocky and annoying, but also always spoke his mind. He had found that he rather enjoyed arguing with the obnoxious male. He did, however like how Jean's main priority now was keeping Evelyn safe, along with the rest of his friends. Jean had really become a dependable leader, putting others before himself, making sure they stayed with the plan, and just watching over them and listening to them. Jean had become a wonderful leader, and all it had taken was for Marco himself to die. It seemed simple for Marco now, seeing as he was used to being dead.

Marco knew his death along with the deaths of the others hadn't been a simple and ignorable loss, he knew their death was the turning point for the 104th. He knew that their sacrifice made the survivors grow closer and watch each other's backs better. Their deaths had strengthened loose bonds that would have only caused more death. Marco felt something was wrong and he jolted up. Marco felt someone coming, and he knew they weren't friendly.

Marco felt their presence before Jean had even heard their footsteps, but the golden eyed ten was still on his feet before Marco could give some sort of warning. Marco shoved at Sasha and Connie, who woke with a start; but opted to keep silent while they woke Mikasa and Armin. Sasha held a finger to her lips when Armin made a move to ask what was wrong. Jean was crouched by the doorway, watching as the intruders came closer. He turned towards the rest of the group and motioned for them to silently escape. "Who are we looking for anyways?" One voice whispered in the dark. It was too dark to make a positive I.D, for the shadows lingered on the men's faces.

'Go.' Jean mouthed and waved them off once more. They stood there refusing to move. "Some kid who was in the scouting legion." The taller male whispered with a shrug as he neared the corner jean was hiding around. Jean turned towards them and attempted to get them to run once more, but they refused. Mikasa took a step forward and Jean grabbed a broom and hit the taller male in the face with it, causing him to hit his knees in his surprise and pain.

"Go!" Jean yelled as the other man lunged for him. "This is the kid, Nile!" The shorter male exclaimed as he grabbed and struggled to keep a hold of Jean. Jean met eyes with the older man and Nile was surprised. "You..." He muttered as Jean tried to head butt the one holding him. 'Jean...' Marco murmured in slight surprise. "Jean Kirschtien... You..." Nile found it hard to say the words he knew he had to say. "Are now under the custody of the military police until we capture Levi, and those you just allowed to escape... Then you will all be publicly executed for treason against the King and his subordinates..." Nile said, and Marco knew the words left a bitter taste in his mouth from the way he hesitated and the disturbed look that had crossed his features when his subordinate Dalton had caught hold of Jean.

"I have one question for you Jean." Nile stated as Dalton cuffed the teenager. "What would that be?" Jean asked bitterly. "Why? Why sacrifice yourself for the others? Why betray that which you had sworn to protect?" Nile asked and Jean looked up at him with a serious look. "Why? That's actually very easy to answer... but before I do, I have a question for you." Jean said and Nile blinked, but allowed him his question. "For the ones you love, such as: your family, your friends, and just anyone close to you. What wouldn't you do for them?" Jean asked and Nile was at a loss for words. "That should also answer your question, seeing as the scouting legion is my family, the ones I helped escape are my friends, and the ones I love..." Jean started, but paused and looked up at the sky with a saddened look.

"One was forced outside of the walls... The other... his ghost follows me. Haunting me since that day, the day I couldn't save my best friend, my brother..." Jean said as Nile forced him to continue walking. Marco was at a loss for words, if he could breathe he believed he would be struggling to do so. If he could hug Jean and cry, he doubted he would ever stop. 'Jean...' "I see... but what if the ones you love are the enemy, what would you do then?" Nile asked and Jean smirked at him.

"Ask yourself that question before you drop it on me. If I had my way I would follow Evelyn to the end of the world just to see her smile." Jean said then clamped his mouth shut despite Nile pestering him with more questions. Marco vanished from the area, only pausing to take one last glance at Jean. 'She will find a way to help you.' Marco said as Jean sighed. "What a shame. This could get a bit hectic if I were to die." He whispered, then looked over to Marco's general direction, which also happened to be the direction he could best see the moon.

"The castle has crumbled." Jean said and Nile looked at him questioning, not hearing him right. Marco froze, he knew those words. He knew what it meant. They were part of the code phrase Shadish had taught them. It was the worst phrase Jean could have ever spoken; it was the one signing the defeat of the leader.

Marco vanished and had appeared out in the middle of a field, there was only so far he could ghost jump at a time. He stumbled through the wall of the cabin Evelyn was staying with Reiner, Ymir, and Bertholt in. Bertholt dropped his sketch book in surprise when Marco had stumbled in. "Eve?" Marco called, his ethereal form flickering in response to his panic. Bertholt stood and picked his sketch book up from the floor, where in his surprise he had dropped it and had slid it across the floor.

"S-she... she's out doing something right now..." Bertholt said nervously and Marco began to flicker from sight. "I would recommend you stay here Marco... What she is doing is a bit risky and could get her seriously injured, or even killed if she were to be found out." Reiner said and Marco turned to him. "You can tell us what's wrong maybe we can help..." Reiner said offhandedly, his arms crossed over his chest. Marco frowned as he found his place on Evelyn's bed. "I would prefer to explain when she returns." He said but he faded from sight. The chill didn't fade, so they knew he hadn't left.

It wasn't long before Evelyn returned, but Marco could tell she wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings, that was… until he called out to her.

:-:-: With Evelyn :-:-:

The sun had long since been down and she saw no other titans roaming the area. She tilted her head upwards and took a deep whiff of the air. Eve was just happy to be outside and not trapped within Evelyn's body any longer. Evelyn was still in full control of Eve, so she was searching. Eve couldn't care less, she wasn't restricted any longer. Evelyn tilted her head to the left and sniffed once more. Their shift of patrol was over.

Reiner and Bertholt had all returned to the compound, as they called it. They had told Dominic that Ymir and Evelyn were going to continue to search outside to make sure nothing that could cause them danger was anywhere near the compound. It had impressed Dominic of course, seeing as he had taken Evelyn for one of being rebellious, as she was. Ymir sat on Evelyn's shoulder as the girl scrambled across the ground sniffing at everything and anything that appeared out of place.

"You know you won't find anything this way…" Ymir sighed and Evelyn snorted. "I'm well aware that smells fade away with time, I'm not searching for a trail." Evelyn said and Ymir raised a brow. "I'm searching for a lingering smell, an out of place lingering smell. Something similar to Bertholt and Reiner, seeing as we are looking for their parents and not them." Evelyn explained and Ymir sighed. "I don't think we will find them… not when Dominic is the one hiding them." Ymir said and propped her head on her hand.

"Why so pessimistic?" Evelyn asked and Ymir scoffed loudly. "I was hiding from Dominic for eighty years, now I'm stuck under his command seeing as the bastard wiped out my people without even batting a fucking eye." She sneered and Evelyn frowned. "He is going to kill them as well, Ymir. We have to save them." Evelyn said and Ymir sighed. "Fine, you really want to save them? I would suggest searching up in those mountains over there." Ymir said pointing at a large mountain range in the distance.

"Why there?" Evelyn asked and Ymir scowled at the mountains. "It's where he trapped me eleven years ago, when you, Reiner, Jean, Bertholt, and Annie would have all been about six or seven. He had me trapped there for about thirty years, me stuck as a mindless titan. I had long since lost the fight for my humanity…" she sighed and tossed her legs over Evelyn's shoulders as she talked. "So you feel like story telling?" Evelyn asked and Ymir scoffed once again.

"Not really, but I guess I see you as a friend. Don't fuck it up." She snapped and Evelyn laughed. "Ok then… go on please." Evelyn replied and Ymir sighed. "He also carries his huge furry ass up there when he thinks no one is looking. My guess is that he has some poor saps trapped up there like he had me trapped up there." Ymir said and Evelyn hmphed lightly. "Why not tell anyone though? Why not Bertholt, Reiner, or Annie?" Evelyn asked as she ran, dodging trees as she gained speed.

"Reiner is a big blonde buffoon who thinks with his strength and not his mind. Obviously you can tell he has a few screws loose, seeing as he had really fit in with you humans a little too well. Bertholt is too much of a pansy ass to go against Dominic, nothing against the guy but compared to Reiner, Bertholt is a scared little rabbit." Ymir said then her shoulders slumped a bit. Evelyn could see the regret flicker through Ymir's eyes.

"You know he really isn't scared, so much as nervous. You're a bit harsh on them, don't you think? Bertholt is more nervous than scared. I believe the only things he fears for is the fate of humanity, his parent's safety, and Dominic. So enough of this bad mouthing about our friends. You say you had lost the war fighting for your humanity? If you lost how can you become a human now?" Evelyn asked and Ymir scratched her neck in annoyance.

"I had broken free from Dominic's prison and I… I eat Bertholt and Reiner's childhood friend… I think he was Bertholt's twin brother. They looked a bit alike physique wise, but all I saw was human in my titan form. That's all I see in my titan form, human… human… animal… human. I have animalistic eyes so I can't tell the difference of who's who in my titan form, all I see is a humanoid physique." She said and Evelyn frowned.

"I'm sorry Ymir. I shouldn't have Asked, should I?" she asked and Ymir shrugged. "I don't care if you know. Reiner and Bertholt found out at castle utgard, where fuzzy ass was walking away from his Mike/ Evelyn beat down." She said and Evelyn stutter stepped. "That was uncalled for…" Evelyn said and Ymir raised a brow. "What the hell was uncalled for? They already knew." She said and Evelyn slowed her pace as they reached the bottom of the mountains.

"The Mike part. He's dead, but I lived I don't think that it's fair in the slightest that I survived and he didn't." Evelyn said and Ymir sighed. "Sorry then, but don't expect a formal apology. A half assed sorry should suffice, because you know me, I'm Ymir. The bad ass." She said and patted Evelyn on the head. "I guess. That was when I was nearly consumed by titan Eve, Ymir. She saved me from him, only for me to become a monster within the walls. I sit and I wonder every day, what would have happened if I hadn't screamed. Would I be dead, would I have survived? What?" Evelyn asked and Ymir shrugged.

"I'm glad you're a big ass ugly titan like me, now I have someone to call my big as ugly friend." Ymir said and Evelyn deadpanned at her. "You're a very rude woman, at least I'm not eighty though." Evelyn snipped and Ymir grinned. "I'm eighty and I look like I'm eighteen. I'd say I have a pretty damn good thing going for me here, don't you?" Ymir snickered and Evelyn smiled a bit. "So… how old are Reiner and Bertholt?" Evelyn asked and Ymir rolled her eyes.

"I just fucking told you this. Are you dumb in the memory department or something?" she asked and Evelyn laughed lightly. It felt odd laughing so freely, but it made Evelyn feel a bit better about her situation. "Well, bitch get to sniffing. I don't wanna be out here all damn night, I like my sleep you know." Ymir urged and Evelyn rolled her eyes, but did as Ymir said. She sat back on her short legs and sniffed, much like a chipmunk standing on its back legs seeing if the coast was clear.

A few more sniffs and Evelyn had confirmed that the scents relatively similar to Reiner and Bertholt resided within the mountains. Evelyn dropped down swiftly and bolted in the opposite direction. Ymir held on with everything she had and yet she was still having troubles. She refrained from yelling out to Evelyn because she felt the rumbled in the ground as well as heard the heavy footsteps going in their general direction.

Dominic was heading towards the mountains.

Evelyn shot past him at about a miles distance, she was unseen as she ran through the woods. Evelyn had everything and anything going through her mind right now. What if he had figured out what they were up to? What if he was going after their parents now to get rid of them or something? What if… no.. she wasn't even going to start thinking he was taking Bertholt and Reiner there. She skidded to a stop in front of the village gates and she burst into steam after Ymir had jumped off her shoulder.

"Damn it woman, warn me next time." Ymir grumbled and Evelyn hit the ground with a soft thud. She couldn't stand up yet, seeing as she wasn't as advanced in the whole titan exiting thing yet. There was only been one time where she was able to get out of Eve like Annie did every time, and that had been right after Eve had eaten Tanaka. Ymir helped Evelyn up, but not without griping every minute of the way.

Ymir released Evelyn once Evelyn could stand on her own two feet again. "You do realize you are very fucking heavy right?" she snapped and Evelyn smirked. "Well I kinda do carry a titan within me." Evelyn said and Ymir rolled her eyes. "Doesn't count." She snapped and Evelyn shrugged as they made their way to their cabin. Evelyn shoved open the door and was more than relieved to see Bertholt and Reiner.

"Oh thank goodness…" she whispered then felt a chill run through her bones. "Eve." Reiner called and pointed to the bed. Marco jumped up and he looked terrified as the words left his mouth. "It's checkmate." He said and chills ran down her spine, her throat went dry, and her eyes burned. She hit her knees limply. "The castle has crumbled." She whispered as the backs of her hands hit the floor beside her with a thud.

"What do they plan on doing?" Evelyn asked, her voice shaky. "A Public execution of the members of the scouting legion that hadn't turned themselves in yet. Jean sacrificed himself to save Mikasa and the others." Marco said and Evelyn's hands slid across the floor in front of her, her upper body flattening against the cold floor as her arms stretched out on front of her. "I need a moment... just a second... to think this through... to form a plan..." She whispered against the floor.

"I need to cool down and… and…" she began but her voice cracked and her shoulders shook. "This can't be happening… why would he? Just why?" she sobbed and Marco sat cross legged in front of her. "If you don't help him, they will kill him Eve…" Marco said and Evelyn fisted her hands against the floor. "I know…" she sobbed and shoved herself back up to her knees. "What of Levi… what of my brother?!" she asked in a strangled cry.

"Kenny…" he began and he watched as all strength left her limbs. Her forehead hit the floor as her arms gave way from under her. "They are going to kill everything I have left." She sobbed against the floor and Marco frowned. "Kenny managed to capture Levi, but they haven't killed him and they don't look like they will be trying anything against them anytime soon." Petra's voice echoed from the doorway and Evelyn looked in her direction.

"They are waiting for something Evelyn and whatever it is, it can't be good." Petra said and Marco nodded in agreement. A dark look crossed Evelyn's face as she clumsily shoved herself to her feet. "They should know that the bigger they are they fall, and you hit me… I'll hit back harder." She snapped and Ymir smirked. "Little lady has grown a backbone. Good. Now we need to save Eren and Historia while we are there." she said and Evelyn nodded. "We speak to Dominic about the plan tomorrow, there may be a chance he will tag along to see we actually go through with the plan." Reiner said and Evelyn nodded.

"Things are going to be a bit different this time. I refuse to bust down any walls. We will climb them instead." Evelyn said glaring at her fisted hand.

:-:-:_:-:-:

Jean was tied to a chair, and he wasn't alone. He looked over and saw Levi beaten and bruised tied to a metal chair. Jean had been underestimated and tied to a wooden chair. They had estimated Levi's willingness to escape perfectly, although they hadn't quite figured Jean to be the running type he was. "Ah! I see you have the boy!" the fat man in expensive looking clothing said with an overly excited look. "Your majesty…" the tall man beside him greeted and Levi glared up at the man with a swollen eye.

"Kenny." He spat and the king seemed a bit phased by Levi's pure hatred. "What did you do to my sister?" Levi snapped and the king raised his brow. "A sister?" he asked and Kenny nodded. "The night stalker, your majesty." Kenny stated simply. The king's features brightened and Jean glared at him. "Ah! So I see you and Mr. Dawk have managed to bring me the ones closest to the creature correct?" the king asked and Kenny and Nile nodded.

"Good! Good! Maybe I can add that lovely young woman to my collection!" the king said happily and pulled a long golden drapery rope, revealing something that made Jean and Levi's eyes go wide. "What? Why would you… that's sick!" Jean spat, looking at the women trapped within the crystals. One was an older blonde woman, who looked like an older version of the blonde teenager in the second crystal. "That's Annie! You can't do that!" Jean spat and Kenny laughed.

"And the girl's mother. We found her in the center of a titan skeleton, it amazes me that even a titan can look ill. Does it not amaze you?" Kenny asked, tilting Jean's head up with his revolver. "You can't do this to Evelyn!" he snapped and Kenny grinned. "Oh? And who will stop me? You and her brother are trapped here, while your scared little friends are out there hiding from me and Dawk. We will find them soon enough and the king will have a beautiful raven haired woman in the center of his collection, a prize in itself." Kenny said and Jean grit his teeth.

"There is nothing you can do to stop me, his majesty will have that brat before the reiss and those damnable titans can get to her." Kenny said and the last thing Jean saw was a flash of bright light as the revolver came down on his skull.


End file.
